A Heart of Onyx
by Those3Morons
Summary: Devin Carmine didn't think that he'd live to see the end of the war; humans were dying by the tens of thousands everyday by the locust, so it was easy to see that his mindset was shared by many other people. However, when he was deployed to Ilima City, he discovers something that can help them end the war sooner rather than later. Only if he had more time to get it back to the COG.
1. Fall of Ilima

**Disclaimer: I own neither game franchise, just the characters and whatever other missions and/or details that I add in.**

* * *

**Chapter One: Fall of Ilima**

He doesn't know how long he's been fighting, but from all the dead locust bodies, spent ammo brass, and discarded weapons that are scattered around, he's guessing that it's been a while. Doesn't matter now, he's grown used to the death and destruction that this war and the previous one brought on. He went from killing the UIR to killing the Locust Horde.

He will say this about them; they come up with some nasty ways to kill humans, he seen some gear get impaled with a modified sawed-off shotgun, then it fired at point-blank into his stomach. Tore the poor bastard right in half.

But in return, they too created clever ways to kill; a standard issue lancer assault rifle came with a bayonet meant for impalement, but against the Locust it was prone to snapping, though it never actually happened to him. They replaced it with a damn chainsaw. On occasion, he swore that if he ever meets the man who came up with the idea of using one on a grub, he's going to shake that man's hand. Maybe buy him drink, he didn't know yet.

He quickly shook his head, gathered more ammo for his lancer, gnasher shotgun, and boltok magnum, and went to the rendezvous point with the other Onyx Guards. Oh wait, he didn't mention that he was an Onyx Guard, did he? Doesn't matter now, his King Raven was shot down by Nemecyst that were inking the sky, so that means that he has to fight his ass all the way to the checkpoint. Ugh, this is going to be a long, long ass walk.

He's just another gear in the COG war machine, so he needs to book it to that checkpoint now.

* * *

"You there! Get your ass over here and bolster the defenses! DOUBLE TIME IT!" A fellow Onyx Guard orders him, clearly labeling him as the superior officer here.

"Yes sir!" He answers, running to the front barrier and getting behind cover.

"Sorry boys, my Raven got shot down, had to march my ass here." He tells the men next to him, receiving a few chuckles and head shaking.

"That's one hell of a wake-up call, anyways what's your name? Mine's Michael Wyatt." He tells him, nudging his arm with his elbow.

"Devin, Devin Carmine." He replies, checking his ammo for his weapons.

"Got any family left alive or no."

"Yeah, both parents, and older brother, and two younger brothers. I miss them." Devin tells him, patting his right satchel, where he keeps a photo of his family.

"That's good, keep 'em close. You'll never know when-" He never got to finish the sentence, as the main reason why the Onyx Guard are in Ilima City: General Raam.

"OPEN FIRE!" The officer screams, as they begin to fire at the very large locust general.

Devin didn't get time to reload as he was picked up by the helmet by Raam himself and was then thrown through a nearby window of an abandoned home. He groaned as he tried to get back up, but since fate was a bitch, the floor below him collapsed, sending him further deeper into the luxury house.

After falling roughly twenty or more feet, he finally came to a stop on the metal floor. After he rolled over and took his helmet off to catch his breath, internally thanking God and the Allfathers that nothing in his throat was damaged to the point of him not being able to speak and move it properly. Sadly though, his neck does hurt from being thrown like a ragdoll through a window and falling through the damn floor.

"Nothing can ever be simple, can it?" He mumbles, rubbing his neck in an attempt to soothe the pain he felt.

"What kind of basement is this? There's nothing but fucking lab equipment in here." He says, looking around the room and seeing various monitors and scientific papers scattered about.

Walking up to the table, he looks at the scattered pile and picks up one of the sheets with a name on it.

"Doctor Maynard huh… what the hell were you doing here?" He pondered to himself, reading the various papers and monitors, before stumbling upon something totally bizarre.

"Teleportation? '_By using Imulsion and this new element sample that I managed to sneak out of the laboratory, I have deduced that, when used together properly with ionization from negative and positive charges, should be able to send any matter within the transmat relay to another point on the planet entirely! This discovery in of itself will revolutionize not only the military, but the civilian populace as well! I'll have to run the equations by Professor Fenix, whenever I get the chance; I may be smart, but that man is entire leagues ahead of me in the science field._"

The more he read it, the less sense it made to him. Teleportation? New elements? Just what the fuck were these guys doing, while everyone else was fighting and dying? He may be an Onyx Guard, who officially doesn't exist, that operates at the sole discretion of the chairman, but he hasn't heard anything about this level of science fiction trying to become reality.

"So, I need to head to the basement of the Illima City Public Library, evidently there's a secret laboratory hidden behind the archives… interesting."

Devin has accepted the fact that the guards on the street were killed, as evidence from the lack of lancer gunfire. May the Allfathers watch over them in the afterlife, they were good men who deserved better.

After climbing out of the basement, he seen exactly why the locust general was in the city: the bastards are using seeders to ink the skies above the city. In layman's terms, bringing in a kryll storm. The kryll will kill anything that's not alive in the entire city. Human and locust alike.

As he looks around, he sees that there's no locust guarding the seeder. He comes out from cover with his weapon raised, moving to the fallen gears. He kneels down and solemnly shakes his head, as he grips Wyatt's COG tags and collects them, along with his rifle as a back-up weapon. He does this for the remainder the gears, not leaving a single tag behind. As he does this, he also collects the unused mags and shells from their bodies, grimacing at the thought of them not needed the ammo anymore.

When he's finished, he shoulders his rifle and carries onwards to the library, stopping only to give the fallen soldiers one last look before continuing on his journey.

* * *

After an hour of walking, killing, screaming, and reloading, Devin hears the voices of other humans nearby, seems as if they're headed to the orphanage, if he can hear them correctly, that is.

He climbs over the wall to his left and jumps down, startling the gears as they turn their weapons to him out of reflex. When he stands back up, he sees the bald gear motioning to his squad mates to lower their weapons.

"Zeta team stand down, it's a friendly." He orders, looking more closely at the man who suddenly arrived.

"Not just any friendly Mihn, a fucking Onyx Guard." The largest of the five tells him, making most of them actually pay attention to who they're dealing with.

"What the hell is an Onyx Guard doing this far out? We've passed by an overrun post littered with your group's bodies." Mihn asks him, narrowing his eyes a bit at the spec ops soldier.

"General Raam is in the city, having seeders ink the sky for a kryll storm… the bastard destroyed a concrete barrier and then proceeded to pick me up by my helmet and throw me through a window of a nearby home. By the time I crawled my ass out of the basement, after falling through the floor, the entire place was littered with my fallen brothers…" He holds out a few of the COG tags for them to see, allowing actual remorse to fill his voice.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know that was the reason why Raam was in the city."

"Think about it Mihn, it makes a lot of sense to send that ugly bastard here to take over the city. One of the few grubs that could actually get the job done, you know?" The large one tells him, making him nod his head in agreement.

"What are your orders; escorting this civilian to an evac chopper?"

"Yes and no, we have to get to Ilima Orphanage to find-" Devin interrupts him with a raise of his hand and looks at the civilian in question.

"Name and age kid." He tells him.

"Uh I- I'm seventeen, sir. The name's Jace Stratton." He says, stuttering a little bit at the imposing black armor and blue glow of the facial lenses.

"You know how to use one of these?" Devin motions towards his assault rifle, looking at Jace while he shakes his head.

"Take it and have one of these gears show you how to use it, understood Stratton?" He tells him, handing the kid his rifle as he goes wide eyed at that.

"Oh shit, for real man!? I uh- I mean, yes sir." He corrects himself, taking the rifle from him and looking at it.

"Have one of these gears show you how to use it properly, we don't want to lose a fellow soldier now, do we?" He asks rhetorically, walking past the stunned group of people and continues on.

"Hey wait up there, soldier!" Mihn shouts at the man, running to catch up with the soldier.

"I don't know what your orders are, or where you're even going, but you can't just recruit a civilian into the army without any proper-" Devin interrupts him when he turns around and stares directly into the bald man's eyes.

"Under Article seven, paragraph eight, sentence three of the Military Enlistment Act, it states that under times of extreme duress, an officer of the Coalition of Ordered Governments is allowed to field recruit any civilian that desires to help with any form of military operation. As the senior officer currently on site, I did exactly what was within my capabilities."

He knew that the man didn't like that one bit, but he had to agree with him; he was only following protocol given to him by the COG.

"Sir, he's right. Even if you don't agree with him, he's the senior officer present." The girl tells him, even further proving Devin's point.

"Stratton, is the library in the same direction as the orphanage?" He asks the kid, hoping that the Allfathers would at least give him some luck today.

"Yeah it's right down the road from there, to the west to be exact."

"Okay then, I'll relinquish command back to you and after we arrive at the orphanage, I'll be on my way to the library." He tells the man, seeing him nod his head in acceptance.

"Might I ask why you need to head to the library? Or is that information classified?"

Devin stood there for a moment, thinking whether or not if he should say anything to the man. He ultimately decides that if this gets him killed, then why shouldn't he?

"Honestly… I don't even know what the fuck I discovered. Someone named Maynard was a scientist that was fucking around with a new element and Imulsion, I didn't understand most of what I read, except for the fact that this discovery evidently makes teleportation a scientific fact instead of fiction. Whatever it is, Maynard had it in his lab, located in the basement where the archives are. If this can be used to win this war, then this needs to be sent straight to Chairman Prescott."

They looked at him like he was stupid, or in belief… he wasn't too sure.

"That's… I don't even know what to say."

"How do you think I feel?"

With that, the group of six soldiers carried onto the road towards the orphanage, but not without a fight: the locust was at all angles, firing at them with hammerburst rifles, boltok magnums, gnasher shotguns, and even a few with lancers. Devin grabbed the spare lancer off of his magnetic plate and proceeded to put it to good use, imagining that Wyatt was smiling from beyond the grave at the prospect of his rifle tasting more locust blood.

* * *

Not thirty minutes later, he seen that same black Theron guard, the one who was with Raam back at the Onyx Guard outpost, the one who killed his fellow Gears.

He doesn't know what happened, but he heard the lieutenant shout for him to stop, but he ignored it. This thing will fucking die, die just like those it had killed, die just like the waste of flesh, blood, and bone that it was.

When he reaches the top of the street, he sees the orphanage right across the road, momentarily forgetting why he was running in the first place, until he sees locust general fly away on his reaver, two of those elite maulers going down the side roads for unknown reasons, and that damned locust ripping a civilian's arm off and stabbing the poor man in the chest with that sawed-off shotgun and firing it, ripping the man in half.

That was the straw that broke the camel's back for Devin: it was dying. Nothing else, just dying.

The Theron guard was relishing in the recent kill, feeling euphoria from killing that pathetic ground walker. But before he could react, he was tackled from the side by something large, black, strong, and very pissed.

Devin doesn't know how long he sat there, repeatedly bashing in the locust's face in with nothing but his fists, before standing up and began to saw its limbs off with the chainsaw bayonet, then cut it open placed a live grenade inside the damn thing rolling back just far enough to avoid being damaged by the blast radius.

"Lieutenant…" he starts, turning to face the man while reaching into one of his satchels and pulling out a few letters and old, faded COG tags with his name on it, "if I don't return from the library… I want you to give these to my brothers, Anthony, Benjamin, and Clayton Carmine. Tell them that Devin said that he's sorry that it came to this, he's sorry for everything he's done to them, and that being an Onyx Guard isn't the greatest… even if we don't exist."

He didn't wait for a response, already pushing the lieutenant out of the way, only to stop beside the man with the tattoos, "The UIR will be vital in the future, I can feel it. Take care of yourself soldier, we can sure use you for this war." After he told him that, the man nodded, and smiled at him.

"Life is not without its struggles, for if there was no struggle in your life to be conquered, then was it really a life to live in the first place?" He asks the man, who only laughed and shook his head, patting his shoulder before continuing on his mission.

* * *

It had been about twenty minutes since he left the squad of gears at the orphanage, hoping that they would be enough to at least stop the locust and evacuate the civilians. Leaping down a destroyed bridge, Devin spotted the library across the street… well what remained of it, at least. The entire roof collapsed on the building, making entering it a health hazard in of itself. But he had to check if the archives are intact, and if they are, then he'll check for that secret laboratory that Maynard had built into it.

When started to make his up the stairs, he hears a sniper round from a longshot rifle miss his head by a mere inch or two. Then all hell broke loose: bullets and explosions began pelting the stairs, sending Devin to the ground, where he rolled through the busted-out doors. Standing up, he planted a few frag mines on the walls and floor, setting up a small ambush for any unsuspecting locust bastard that will follow him.

He doesn't want to waste any ammo on the grubs, not yet at least, just in case if there's something here that he can use against them down in this lab.

Coming across the door that reads "_Ilima City Public Library Archives_" on the sign that has fallen to the ground, Devin revs his chainsaw and proceeds to start cutting open the blocked door, grunting as he gets way more resistance than it should be giving him. He quickly kicks the door off its hinges, when he hears the grenades detonate, no doubt killing a few of them bastards, and runs down the steps.

Activating the suit's thermal and night-vision hybrid optics, he sees the pitch-black room illuminate into a green background, with small rodents highlighting in red and orange. Got to love the level of tech and resources that each suit of Onyx Guard armor receives, they've definitely helped him since this damned war began.

He stops in his tracks when he hears chimes sound off, almost like a person announcing something over the intercom.

"Scanning COG identification… Carmine, Devin. Captain in the Onyx Guard. Access to Doctor Maynard's laboratory is granted, have a good day." The mechanized voice says, sliding a bookshelf out of its position and revealing a room much larger than the one that he was in.

"What the fuck…" Devin mutters, stepping through the now exposed doorway and turning around to see it closing by itself.

"Must be some kind of security system, that'd explain why an Onyx Guard would receive clearance to this place. They have to make sure that there won't be any security leaks, and since we don't exist…" He lets the thought continue in his mind and shudders a bit.

People who has came into contact with them before only thinks that they don't care about anything except the orders they're given by the chairman, but that's not true: they're just regular people with thoughts and emotions, except sometimes they have to do what needs to be done in order to keep the peace, which to others, looks like they're machines.

"So… this is what you were working on, huh Maynard?" Devin asks, kneeling next to a corpse with a very large, very heavy shelf fallen on top of it. Judging from the blood stains and how stiff the body is, he must've been dead for a few hours. Probably was killed when vibrations from the roof collapsing caused the shelf to fall on the man, killing him instantly.

"Let's see what you had going on here…"

Devin stands up and walks to the center of the room, seeing a platform glowing with the distinct yellow that Imulsion gives off, but inside of that glow is something blue, something that's making the Imulsion act weird. Weird as in making the miracle fuel move around on its own. His mom always said that if something weird is happening to something simple because of something weirder, don't mess with it. Just don't.

But, because he's a Carmine brother, he's going to throw caution in the wind and see what this weird thing does.

"Is this thing the teleporter that Maynard was talking about? If so, then what the fuck is this new element doing to it?"

He approaches the machine, seeing a control console with the option "ACTIVATE?" in bold letters. Now, Devin is by no means an idiot, but when it comes to something like teleportation and other science fiction machines, he's been known to just nerd out over it. But that was a lifetime ago, before he was sent to war immediately after graduating, before he became a killing machine, before he became an Onyx Guard.

But… just this once, he'd like to feel like the nerdy kid in high school again. Just this one last time.

With that in mind, Devin presses the yes button on the console, hearing a chime go off and the machine firing up to full power. Before he does anything, however, he runs over to a COG armory maintenance terminal, looking for schematics for his weapons and ammo to bring to the COG headquarters in Jacinto, if this is indeed where the teleporter is going to send him.

He knows that they already have the schematics for the weapons, but not these: these are solely for the use of Onyx Guards. Meaning they have better materials put into them, like an improved drive mechanism for the lancer chainsaw, higher caliber bullets, larger magazine sizes, better sights and optics, more stable recoil compensators, and a few other weapons not generally found in the COG army, such as the One Shot mk2 30mm cannon, an upgraded variant that has a faster loading time, faster charge-up, has an extra shot before it needs to be reloaded, and fires a higher, much deadlier round.

"Bingo." He says, grinning when he finds what he's looking for. He quickly downloads all information from the terminal into his suit's storage drive, damn he loves this suit, then proceeds to destroy it. What? He has to ensure that if this place gets discovered by scavengers, he can't allow them to have this information.

With that, he steps onto the platform, then immediately the alarms started blaring. The noise went higher in frequency and louder to the point of it being a constant ringing in his ears through the helmet. Not even his helmet's features could keep the blinding light out of his eyes. With a loud scream of pain from sensory overload, Devin disappears in a flash of light, causing the machine to explode and destroy most of the room with it.

All he sees is a blue vortex circling around him, flinging him around the area like a ragdoll in a vehicle colliding with another vehicle going through a tornado. Then, as quickly as it started, it ends with Devin tearing his helmet off and throwing up on the cold metal floor of wherever he is.

The air smells like ass… wait a second… COG Headquarters doesn't use red lights for illuminating hallways, the air wouldn't smell like shit, and-

Devin stops as he feels something small and circular press up against the back of his head. He instantly knew that it was a pistol.

He stands up slowly, evidently towering over whoever aimed their weapon at him. When he turned, after picking his helmet up and putting it back on, and stared confused at what he was looking at: it had a weird shaped head, long sharp teeth, and large, red eyes.

"What the fuck…" Is all he could muster in the face of an actual alien. An alien that is apparently trying to mug him, go figure.

It tried to speak to him, probably ordering him to hand his belongings to the alien fuck wad. In all actuality, the thing's face reminds him of a locust, well the teeth do. They both have theirs always showing, and they're long and sharp.

It then made a mistake, one that'll cost the fucker its face… more so than what life already did to it: it started motioning towards his weapons, wanting him to hand them over.

"Oh, I don't think so, you alien bastard. How about you go piss off and fuck a Berserker without it being chained down." He tells it, hearing it scream something in its native, guttural language of hisses and roars.

When it aimed the pistol at his head, he swats the weapon away and grabs it by the throat and throws it into its buddies, creating a ragdoll effect as it knocks them down too.

"Piss off before I-" Devin never got the chance to finish his sentence as he is tackled from the side by something large, red, and heavy.

When he looks at it, he briefly regards that it somewhat looks like a dinosaur, only human sized and uglier. Whatever the thing is, it tries to hit him in the face only for its fist to meet his hand as he caught it. Devin delivers a powerful kick to the thing's groin as he hears it makes a whimper and slides off of him.

'_Definitely a male._' Devin thought casually.

"PISS OFF" He shouts at them, as he stands and then goes through the various corridors of this alien facility.

* * *

Meanwhile, this entire ordeal was being watched by multiple people, some human, others not. Especially an alien infiltrator that was scanning the area for possible clean up.

"Damn… Vakarian would want to know about this. A large human taking on Blood Pack by himself, with nothing but his hands? We could use him, if he doesn't prove to be hostile." Mused a feminine flanging voice, moving back into the shadows as she headed back to their group's headquarters.


	2. Weird Alien, Lizard-Face Thing

**A/N: Forgot to add in an author's note last chapter, posting this story right before midnight after having a long day will make you forget a few things. Anyways, moving on from that, I hope that this chapter holds well and the pacing is good enough; having to keep looking at this file rusting in my documents for nearly a year will make you forget a bit about what happens in it. Besides all of that, I already have a few extra chapters completely finished, but I don't want to rush them out and post them, that's how a good work of literature can be ruined. With that in mind, I'll be posting a chapter every week, maybe two depending on what happens between now and then, and I hope that everyone who reads this will enjoy it as much as I have.**

**If you don't then that's fine too, I still appreciate the fact that you took time out of your day to check out my story. It makes me happy to see that other people enjoys my work, and that's all that matters to me. I mean sure the follows and favorites are amazing, but you don't have to do those or leave a review, I don't mind, that's entirely up to you.**

**And to answer my first review (thank you btw, I very much appreciate it), I too thought that having the locust and humanity working together and replacing the System's Alliance would be an interesting concept, my only problem with doing that would be how to incorporate them into the universe on a daily basis (schooling, work, political, etc) would be a hard concept to nail (to me at least) and then having to incorporate that into the game's plot would be even harder. Example: Cerberus. Would they be pro-human, or pro-human and locust? If both, then who gets replaced by a locust and who doesn't, who on the Normandy would be human and locust, and would Mass Effect 3 have both humans and locust indoctrinated to fight for The Illusive Man, or only humans. And how the locust breed by basically raping the berserkers (having them chained down and reproducing forcefully for obvious reasons) and how the galaxy would react to that. With that in mind, that's why I didn't go with that route. I hope this answers your question sufficiently, if not, then I'm sorry. Now, onto the story.**

**Disclaimer: I own neither game franchise, just the characters and whatever other missions and/or details that I add in.**

* * *

**Chapter Two: Weird Alien Lizard-face Thing**

"Geeze Louise, what the fuck was that thing trying to do, have its way with me? Fuck all that shit." Devin mutters, checking his weapons and ammo to see if everything is in place and where it should be.

He looks around the corridors and sees multiple humans and even more unknown aliens; more than the grub and dinosaur looking ones. There was one with four eyes, human-looking body and even uglier than the dinosaurs, another that looked like it had two curved horns and big ass eyes, one with tentacles growing out of their head and looked like a teenage human girl, except this bitch was blue. He can immediately tell that he was nowhere near any COG controlled area, that much was obvious. Fuck teleportation, it's total bullshit.

"Hey buddy," he yells at a small human, looking like he's in his late teenage years, "where the fuck am I and who the hell are those aliens?" He asks, pointing at a group of four-eyed looking things in questions.

"You're in Tuhi District, Omega, shithole of the galaxy and those '_aliens_' are batarians. How the hell do you not know that?" The guy asks him, looking at Devin with confusion.

"The fuck is Omega? Never mind, do you uh… do you have a way for me to call COG command, because I really need to get back with some vital intel that we can use."

"The fuck is COG? Some sort of new mercenary group?"

Devin just stares at the man and sighs, shaking his head both disappointment and acceptance: the first at the idiot's retardery about the COG, the second because he just confirmed that there is no COG to go back to. He's stuck in this alien place.

"Never mind, forget it." And with that, our hero walks away and down a flight or two of stairs, wandering around this filthy place for a good hour. He seen more of them dinosaurs and anemic grub looking bastards skulking in the corners of some alleys, but he paid them no mind, they're easy to handle, maybe kill.

* * *

He walks past a small group of the grubs, ignoring their hisses and growls and stumbles upon some sort of weird robot creature. It had two glowing eyes, some sort of cloak made out of some unknown material, probably bulletproof, and a light that was shown whenever it said something.

He just stares at the robot casually, noticing that he's damn near a foot and a half taller than it, maybe more. When it actually realizes that he's looking at it, he sees it take a step back and gasp, something that a machine wouldn't do.

'_So, it's another alien then? Huh._' He says within his mind, looking at it with an eyebrow raised.

Then it spoke: "_Keelah… I- I didn't know humans could get that tall and large… and is that a saw bayonet on that rifle?_" It said, but since Devin doesn't have a translator, it was lost on him.

"Hey uh… do you speak English?" He asks, pointing at the thing across the counter. When he sees it shake its head no, he sighs again but stops when he realized something.

"Wait, you can understand me? Like, for real?"

It nods its head rapidly, probably thinking that he was an idiot and a primitive for not being able to understand him.

In reality though: '_Does this guy not have a translator? How in the galaxy does he not have one? Maybe… maybe Harrot won't find out if I give him one._' He thinks to himself, looking beneath his counter to find an omni-tool that has a basic translator for every species in the galaxy.

After digging around for a minute or two, Devin sees it return from whatever it was doing and holds out a large metallic bracelet thingy to him. After cautiously taking it from the thing, he asks, "This thing isn't some sort of shocker thingy that'll make me some sort of alien sex slave, is it?" He asks rhetorically, knowing that he couldn't understand it, even if he tried.

Devin then puts it on and immediately sees a notification appear on a holographic display on his wrist, as it turns on by itself: '_Begin download for standard galactic translator?_' appears on the holographic display coming from the device. After pressing yes, Devin feels a sharp pain coming from his wrist and grabs it, rubbing it slowly as the pain fades away after a few minutes, ten at most, before he hears the thing speak in clear, perfect English.

"You okay there, sir?" It asks him, in a male, teenage sounding voice.

Looking up at the thing in surprise, Devin shakes his head, getting a hold of his thought processes quick enough to respond after a few seconds.

"Uh yeah, just what and how in the fuck am I able to understand you that quickly?"

"Oh well… the sharp pain you felt when you confirmed the translator option was from the omni-tool injecting breaking down omni-gel, making nanites that are injected into your blood stream, moving to your brain and forming together to make a chip that'll download the translation matrices. But I will say this, that whole process was a lot faster than I was expecting it to be." He explained, sounding like he knew what he was talking about, and Devin wasn't going to argue with him about it.

Devin nods his head and looks around the place, "So… thanks for that, I appreciate it. But can I ask as to what the hell you're doing here in the ass end of this place?"

The alien nods his head, sitting down on a stool behind the counter as he sighs, "Well I'm right here in this back alleyway because my employer, Harrot, put my shop here. Not only that, but within the first week of me arriving here on my pilgrimage, all of my belongings, besides my enviro-suit and omni-tool, were stolen. I was originally an independent salesman, trying to earn back my credits to get off this station, but when I agreed to sell my stall, where I sell salvaged tech, Harot bought me out for five thousand credits. But, at the time, I thought that being under a _respected_ businessman, I'd easily make enough credits to get out of here." He explains, sighing and holding his helmet within his three-fingered hands.

"Let me guess, it didn't work like that, did it?"

"Right on the… what do you humans say '_point?_'"

"Dot."

"Yeah that, boshtet skyrocketed the prices, driving away all potential customers and corralled right into his store. And since then, I've been stuck here." He finishes, looking up at the human leaning against the wall, with his arms crossed.

"Damn… yeah my ma and pa ran into similar trouble with their life insurance company about thirteen or fourteen years ago. After some hard times, though, they made it out of debt, and eventually became wealthy. And to think that Anthony just graduated the second grade too…" Devin says to himself, looking up as he gets lost in those memories.

After a few minutes of silence, the alien breaks the ice, "My name's Kenn, Kenn Tarvas nar Tonbay." He tells him, motioning towards himself.

Devin stopped for a moment, contemplating whether or not he should give him his name, instead of his call-sign. But, since this was his first, friendly meeting with an alien, he thought that he should at least give him the courtesy.

"Devin Carmine, but just call me Onyx." He tells the kid, but stops as he realizes that since this is a salvage shop, he most likely has to pay for whatever the bracelet thing did to him. With no money on him, and possibly no way to pay him, he settles with the ancient system that many prehistoric cultures used: the barter system.

"Hey kid, I don't have any money on me, and I really don't want to walk away without paying you for the bracelet, so how about I just barter with you on something of equal value?" He asks him, desperately hoping that he'll accept the offer.

Kenn looks at him questioningly but agrees to his offer nonetheless, wondering what exactly he would offer to him in exchange for the omni-tool that he freely gave to him.

"Sweet, uh I have some schematics for high-quality air filtration units, made for the Onyx Guards themselves. Top of the line stuff." He offers him the storage device, hoping that he'll have a way to get the info off the chip without compromising any of the tech and schematics.

"Oh wow, yeah o- of course, depending on how good they are. Let me plug this into my terminal here and… there we go. Oh my, there's a lot of information on this chip. But… all of it's locked behind some heavy encryption." He tells him, motioning towards the terminal for Devin to unlock it.

"Let me decrypt that for you, it'll take only a moment for me to get the info for you." Devin says, sliding Kenn out of the way before he begins the decryption with the necessary keys and commands.

After only five minutes of decrypting, the air filters become openly accessible for Kenn to download and view, seeing if it stands up against the one he has installed into his…

"Keelah… these- these filters are amazing! The whole triple filter stages that recycles the air and sends it back through all three stages again are just incredible! Then there's the built-in CO2 scrubbers that rivals the Human Systems Alliance N7 versions alone could easily sell for fifty or sixty thousand credits alone… how did you get this?" He quickly asks him, shoving his helmet into the screen and reading over the information again, just in case he missed something.

"Secret laboratory in a secret COG bunker. Go ahead and take a copy of them, that way we can both be happy with what we've got. Besides, they were made to keep some of the worst things out there, even ink, out of our lungs. And it worked... for the most part." He told him, mumbling the last part to himself so that Kenn couldn't hear it.

Kenn looks at the man in abject shock, trading an omni-tool that only costs a few hundred credits at most for these filters that can easily go for a hundred thousand.

"I- I… thank you. Thank you so very much, maybe this can be my pilgrimage gift, hopefully one that'll prove to be as useful as the information on the Geth that Tali Zorah brought to the fleet." He tells him sincerely, truly grateful to the human who showed him kindness.

"No problem kid, and if someone starts messing with you, just give me a call on my TACCOM and I'll make the fucker regret existing, okay?" He tells him, giving him his comms unit's information so that he could have a way to get into touch with him, if he ever needs it.

"Sure thing, Onyx, I'll keep that in mind. Take care of yourself and Keelah se'lai." Kenn says to him, waving his hand in traditional human farewell.

"Thanks kid and may the Allfathers watch after you as well."

And with one last wave of his hand, Devin walks up the flight of stairs behind him and goes through the automatic door and sees a very large and open area, littered with people of all species and with trash, all of which were surrounded by a big entrance to some club named '_Afterlife_'.

Clubs were never really Devin's thing, but do you know what else wasn't? Being followed.

With that in mind, Devin quickly turns around and grabs something by its throat, seeing the light being bent by some form of cloak around whatever was following him. Making sure he wasn't seen, he goes through a side door into an alleyway, throwing whoever was following him to the ground and pressing his boot against its throat so that it couldn't move. Afterwards, he pulls the Lancer off his right-side magnetic plate and revs the chainsaw close to its face, after its cloak deactivated.

"The only way you're getting out of here alive is if you tell me why you're following me." He informs it, voice deathly calm given the circumstances.

"Arch- Archangel sent me to see if there's anywhere else that we can help and cleanup, get rid of all these crooked bastards on this station and make it a little more civilized, piece by piece. I was doing recon, when I saw you take down those Blood Pack by yourself, and I thought that maybe you could be of use as an ally." It quickly answers him, trying to lift his boot off of its throat and back away from the chainsaw close to its face.

Devin removes his boot and steps back from the alien, watching as it stands up and takes a deep breath and rubs its throat.

"Who are you?"

The alien looks at him and takes its hood off, revealing a slender face with some sort of blue paint on the carapace and mandibles on its head.

"Tulma, Tulma Sparatus. Niece of the oh so esteemed Turian Councilor, Sparatus." She explains, motioning to herself. "So, who are you?"

"Okay…" Is all that he could muster, because let's be honest here: he has no idea what the fuck any of that meant. And who the fuck is this Councilor Sparatus? Some sort of shaman or some shit?

Tulma was getting aggravated by this human's response, as evident from her mandibles lowering and pressing against her jaw.

"Oh shit, uh Onyx, just call me Onyx."

Hearing him say that made Tulma raise an eye ridge, wondering why he'd give her a call-sign and not a name. Generally, from what she had read on the extranet, humans were one of the most social species in the galaxy, but without a doubt the strangest. Too many variables in their genetics and behavior. This human, however, was no exception: she knew that he was tall, but to be nearly eye level with krogan? That she didn't realize.

After speaking with the weird alien, bird woman, Devin actually found himself curious about this '_Archangel_' and his motives. And with that in mind, he did the only thing that he knew: he asked her about him.

"So… who's this Archangel guy and why are you trying to clean up this shit hole? Seriously, I bet if I take my helmet off again, I'd retch and vomit from the smell." He asks, walking out and motioning towards the slums and poverty throughout the area.

"There's not many who'd be willing to make this place into a decent home: most don't give a damn, while others are too afraid of the repercussions if they did the wrong thing to the wrong individual. But there is a group, the one I'm in, that doesn't care about the repercussions, that actually wants to do something about the given situation. And Archangel is the one who orchestrated this whole ideology. He's the one that makes the decisions for us, and the one who we go to for new recruits." She explains, looking at him in examination and interest.

Devin felt uncomfortable with how she was looking at him: hopefully not in the '_alien pet/sex slave_' sort of way. He'd very much like to keep his manhood right where it belongs, thank you very much.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that? Stop it, it's weird." He asks her, genuinely wanting to know why she's eyeing him like a wretch would a cooked steak.

"We could use you, especially for when the situation calls for heavy hitters. And with how you took those Blood Pack down, you can definitely hit hard. So, what do you say Onyx? Care to join us?" She asks, putting a three-fingered hand on her hip as she leans against the wall of the alley.

Devin had to stop and actually think about this decision: on one hand he wouldn't have to worry about his next meal, where he's going to sleep, and he'd have brothers in arms, one's who will watch his six in battle. But on the other hand, this could very well be a trap, one that'll sell him as a slave, get him mugged, and quite possibly killed in the end. He definitely doesn't have enough ammo to fight an entire force, but that hasn't stopped from doing it before.

Deciding that the pros outweigh the cons, Devin looked up at Tulma and nods his head, "I'd actually like that… and to think my little brothers were right in their fantasies about either Clay or me helping aliens fight crime. Lead the way, then Tulma." He tells her, straightening his posture and waits for her to make her move.

"Hmm… follow me, and do be discreet about where we're going: we have a lot of enemies. And when we get there, just let me do the talking and everything will be fine." She tells him, motioning with her head Devin to follow her deeper into the alleys.

Devin nods his head and holsters his Lancer, following in line with the woman until they reach the doors to a maintenance shaft and crossed through it, making him question within his mind whether or not this is going to get himself killed.

* * *

After about thirty or forty minutes of walking, crawling, climbing, and turning, Devin finally sees a door up ahead, making him think if this is their hideout or a safe house to lay low.

After Tulma typed in some encrypted password onto those strange orange holograms, she and Devin walks in to see a bunch of old equipment, used parts and tools scattered throughout the room, and one vehicle looking thing with a pair of alien feet hanging from beneath it with sparks coming out from the same place.

Tulma gives a sigh of annoyance before walking over to the pair of feet and kicks them, scaring the ever-living shit out the poor guy. Then said guy comes crawling back out from beneath the vehicle and gives a gruff of aggravation.

"Spirit's sake woman, damn near gave me a heart attack." He chides at her, shaking his head to gather his thoughts.

"It's the only way to get your attention when you're underneath this old scrapheap, besides we have company here too." She remarks, jabbing a thumb in Devin's general direction.

When he looks at human, the turian in question takes off his welding mask and gawks at the man, clearly surprised by the sheer size of the human. Normally, turians look down at humans, not the other way around. He has to be at most seven feet tall, according to the human measurement system.

"Sidonis, close your mouth before an insect decides to fly in it." She advises, patting him on the shoulder jokingly while Devin looks confused.

"Is… is something wrong?" He asks them, looking towards this _'Sidonis'_ for answers.

"You're freakishly tall and large, for a human you know. Like, krogan big." He explains to him, making Devin actually think about why all the other humans look like teenagers; they're actually the normal sizes for adults.

"Just, I don't know, it's just genetics, I guess." He dismissed, although he wasn't too sure about it. His humanity must be genetically different than this one. Maybe just in size and muscle mass? Hopefully.

Tulma seemed to sense something wrong with him, as she quickly changed subjects, "So, let's head back Sidonis, because Onyx here is the new recruit." She nonchalantly tells him, as she opens the side door and climbs into the back seat.

Before Devin or Sidonis could say anything, Tulma calls for them to get in the sky car.

"Are you sure that he can even fit inside the poor girl? Look at him, if I wasn't positive that humans and krogans couldn't copulate, then I'd believe that he's half krogan."

"Just get in the damn car Sidonis, we'll strap him down on top if we have to." She tells him, gaining a chuckle from Devin as they walked to the sky car.

"Man, if there's one thing I know, is that all women, no matter the species, are the same." Devin tells the poor guy jokingly as he climbs in the passenger seat as Sidonis climbs into the driver seat.

"I heard that, Onyx."

"I know, that's why I said it out loud."

All Devin received in return were soft, flanging chortling sounds, probably their version of a chuckle. But, while Sidonis was driving the sky car, all Devin could think about was his home: he already accepted the fact that he'll never go back to Sera, see his parents and siblings, see them grow up and live their lives, and see if he becomes an uncle. He knew that whatever the hell Maynard did, he won't be able to replicate it, only because he doesn't have any Imulsion to experiment with. So, while he's freaking out on the inside, he simply appears to be watching the lights zip by the window.

"Hey Onyx, you've been staring out the window for thirty minutes now, you okay?" Tulma asks, looking at Devin with an eye ridge raised.

Hearing his name and the question, Devin shakes himself out of his stupor and simply replies to Tulma with that he's simply watching the lights and buildings pass by in silence.

"Well, not meaning to be rude or anything, but might want to stop that now, because we're approaching our destination." Sidonis interjects, causing Devin to look up at the enclosed area that the car is landing in.

* * *

After they landed, the group of three left the old sky car and began to head up the flight of stairs to a bridge that led to an open, two-story building with little to no covered windows. Devin could only think of what would happen if an enemy attacked this place with a King Raven, or whatever aircraft that could come through here. It would be bad, that's for sure.

Tulma put her right arm in front of Devin, silently telling him to stay put, while she continued on to meet another turian that was walking towards them.

'_Must be this _Archangel _guy that they told me about.'_ Devin thought to himself, silently analyzing them, the buildings, and the people that were all watching the debacle on the bridge. No doubt that they were acting as guards to ensure that nothing went south, and with how many there were, there was no doubt within Devin's mind that he'd most likely die if they did decide that he's a hostile.

Seeing that Tulma and the other turian were done talking, Sidonis simply walked past them, giving a courtesy to the turian as he walked by, and entered the building, leaving Devin to walk up to the two remaining occupants on the bridge.

"Damn, he sure is as large as a krogan, even from a distance." He mutters, shaking his head lightly for the oncoming questions that he'd ask this _'Onyx'_.

"What can I say? A man has to eat whatever his mom puts on his plate." Devin jokes, hoping to at least settles the alien's nerves. And it seemed to have paid off, judging from the fact that he laughed a little bit at his humor.

"And I can see that she put a lot on yours. The name's Garrus, or _Archangel_ as a few of the locals have started calling me. You must be Onyx, judging by your size, dark colored armor, and the fact that you were with Tulma here gave it away,"

Devin simply nods his head, shrugging at his description. But then asks him about why he has a human title if he's a turian.

"Well, you see, some folks just started calling me that after I proved that I didn't give a damn about who I pissed off, only that I cared enough to actually start doing some good on a space station that is viewed as the criminal central of the Traverse." He explained, motioning towards some of the lower levels that are either dark and ominous, or just downright filthy.

Devin couldn't help but agree with the man; the place really was a shit hole, from the looks of it.

"Yeah… I see what you're talking about; this place really does need a good clean-up by some people. With that being said, Tulma here," he said, pointing to the woman in question, "said that I'd make a good heavy hitter, if it came down to it. So, I'd like to join, if you'll have me with your group that is." He told the man, going into parade rest for formalities and respect.

"Is that so? Well, what type of weapon and combat experience do you have: are you a sentinel, vanguard, engineer, infiltrator, an adept, or just a regular soldier?" Garrus asks, going through a mental list of options for the large human.

"Just a soldier, although I have over six years of experience within the Onyx Guards and enough weapon and explosives training to efficiently use any weapon that is handed to me: from pistols to sniper rifles and frags to stim grenades." Onyx explains, going over his weapon and ordinance handling experience quickly through his mind.

Garrus nodded his head a couple of times, but had to ask about something peculiar about the man's story.

"What are the Onyx Guards, some sort of Alliance spec ops group, similar to the N7?"

Devin was quick to answer the turian's question.

"In a sense." Was all he told the turian, not really caring about the look that he received.

"Okay, what can you tell me about them? If anything, that is."

"Unofficially, we follow the chairman's orders and only answer to them. Officially, however, we don't exist." Devin elaborated, seeing the turian nod his head in understanding.

"Black ops then… well I can comfortably say this: welcome to the group Onyx." He tells the man, holding out his three-fingered hand in a handshake, which Devin took happily.

"Glad to be aboard then, Archangel."

And with that resolution, the three of them decided to walk to the headquarters, which Onyx had been analyzing both that and the bridge beneath them. He found that the bridge had a small webbing of sensors stretched from one end to the other, which his helmet identified as highly explosive. Probably a countermeasure to ensure that invaders couldn't cross it once it was detonated.

'_Smart_.' Devin thought to himself, _'if I hadn't been looking down, my helmet would've never even picked that up_.'

When they finally made it across, Devin asked Garrus about why he chose to do this whole fiasco; his response was that he used to be a part of C-Sec back the Citadel but left when regulations started getting in his way, and that an old friend of his would've done the same, if he had been still alive.

Devin just nodded his head, accepting his answer and leaving it at that with no further questions. Even he had good friends that'd do good for Sera and/or other people, if they were still alive.

* * *

Eventually, Devin split ways from Tulma and Garrus, having been told to see Glazkov, the quartermaster, about weapons and armor requisitions/maintenance.

It only took him twenty minutes of looking and asking around to find the damn guy, and when he did find him, he was a little… taken back by the man. And by 'man' he meant kid-sized man.

"Ah you must be Onyx then, no!? Damn, boss really wasn't lying when he said you were a big one; making me feel even smaller than I really am over here!" He tells him, laughing at his own joke with an accent reminiscent of some of the Indies from the Pendulum Wars.

"I jest, I jest! Now, let us see what you need for equipment, eh comrade?" He asks, motioning towards an empty table behind him as he walks to it.

Devin was a little bit put off by the small man, but because he didn't really know anything about the alien weaponry, he conceded.

"Just try not to mess with the lancer's chainsaw driving mechanism too much, it's a bitch to put back together properly." He warns him, taking his rifle, boltok, and gnasher off the magnetic plates of his armor and setting them on the table.

Glazkov merely whistles at his weapons and takes the magazine, shells, and bullets out of each weapon and simply examines each one closely. Satisfied with what he sees, he sets them down and looks at Devin with intrigue written on his face.

"Real bullets and shells, I'll be damned, and looks like each of these packs a serious punch too! But, with these being out of date, no one in the galaxy is manufacturing the ammo necessary to shoot these things." He informs Devin, with appraisal and nostalgia lacing his tone.

Honestly, Devin somewhat figured that ammunition would've been a problem, too many alien technologies around him to suggest that they no longer use chemical based propellants to fire their weapons. At least his chainsaw only requires cleaning, minor maintenance work, and a somewhat lengthy assembling process to properly function, but he doesn't feel like it would be wise to just saw everything in half that has weapons that might disintegrate him if it touched him.

"Do you think it'd be possible for you to fabricate some more ammo for my weapons here, Glazkov? I really don't like the thought of having to get rid of my guns." He pleads, looking at Glazkov with some hope in his eyes.

Glazkov brings his hand up to his mouth and purses his lips in thought, humming to himself as he looks at the weapons and their attachments (he really likes the chainsaw), and finally nods.

"Why of course I can, it would be easy to make this ammo! But please, call me Glaz, it would be easier on you." He explains, patting Devin on the shoulder until he noticed something peculiar.

"You don't have shield for armor, no? Hmm, that's not good, not good at all! Come, come, follow me to workshop and then we'll see if I have a decent one just for you, my big friend!" He tells him, grabbing him by the elbow and pulling him to the other side of the warehouse to the armor maintenance area.

'_This is going to be a long wait, a very long wait at that…'_ Devin thought to himself, wondering what sort of mess he'd dragged himself into by accepting Tulma's offer to join them.

* * *

After hours of having to explain how his armor worked, disassembling, reassembling, and then having to manufacture a port within the armored portion of the small of his back, Devin finally stretched his back, satisfied to relieve the stiffness that formed from having to stand in one place too long. But now was the fun part: testing the shield's capabilities against modern weaponry.

"Okay, now fun part begins! Stay still as I shoot you." Glaz tells him, loading a thermal clip into what was called the Vindicator battle rifle.

That caught Devin's attention immediately.

"Excuse me, what the fuck did you just-" But before he could finish his question, he sees his shields flare as he is shot with two bursts from the weapon in Glaz's hands.

"It works like strong oxen, no armor damage at all!" He exclaims, laughing heartily as he puts the weapon down and walks to Devin.

"What the fuck was that about? You could've fucking killed me, seriously man, what the fuck!" He tells him, getting right up to the small man as he stares him down.

Glaz puts his hands up in a placating manner, hoping to calm the giant in front of him.

"Woah easy, easy there, friend, it was only test for shield strength. Trust me, I would never risk comrade's health for testing purposes, is no good and ruins trust. Look at HUD and notice blue bar, is full no? Trust me, that shield can take more damage than a turian with tech armor… maybe."

Him saying that didn't really put Devin at ease, but he was familiar with the technology that this universe uses, so he decided to keep his opinions to himself. And after another hour of tweaking the shield emitter, Glaz finally pulls back and pats Devin on the shoulder, informing him that his shields were now on par with standard issue Alliance military shields.

Nodding his head in thanks, Devin goes back to the weapons maintenance table to grab his weapons and stops at it when he notices that a krogan is looking over his gear.

"Anything catch your eye?" He asks pointedly, crossing his arms as the krogan turns to look at him.

This dinosaur looking fucker was only a few inches taller than him, with an orange tinted hide and green eyes with the pupils resembling that of a feline.

The krogan merely hums to him, nodding his head at his question.

"Knew these weapons must've belonged to someone new, I could smell it… especially the amount of blood that the chainsaw rifle has tasted. You smell of the same blood that's on the weapons… all of them. Curious about where the blood came from though, through all my years of being a field doctor, all the blood I've smelled, this blood is vastly different. Why?" He asks, leaning back on the table as he crosses his arms as his question lingers in the air.

Devin was taken back by his response; honestly, it never occurred to him that maybe some of these aliens could smell the locust blood that's on his armor and weapons. This could prove to be a problem, in the future, if he doesn't clean them all properly.

"There's some fucked-up shit out there, as I'm sure that you're aware of already, and some of that shit made me choose between my life or theirs. I chose mine every time." He alludes, not really telling a lie, but not giving him the full truth either.

The krogan just nods at his answer, somewhat knowing what the man is talking about but letting the subject drop for now.

"Fair enough, you must be Onyx, I'm Grellik, the local doctor and battlemaster whenever the situation calls for it. You done with Glaz yet? If so, then follow me for a physical exam and to gather some medical records on you, just in case I need to patch your ass up and put you back in the fight."

Devin shrugged, picking up his weapons and latching them onto his magnetic plates (but not forgetting to leave a few bullets and shells for Glaz to use as models and examples to make more ammo) and motions for Grellik to lead on.

Accepting the gesture, Grellik lead Devin throughout the areas, making sure to show him the layout of the rooms and corridors, where each place was, and where he'd be sleeping. And after about ten minutes or so of walking and showing him around, Grellik suddenly stops as the enter the infirmary.

Devin, in his own little world as he's storing the information within his mind, walks straight into Grellik, causing the krogan to turn around and glare at him, muttering something about a pyjak and idiocy.

Grellik makes his way around one of the hospital beds and orders Devin to remove his armor and get on. Devin asks him to give him some privacy, to which he obliged.

"I'm ready now, so get whatever you need done, done please." Devin calls out to the krogan, as he lies back on the bed and gets comfortable for the medical procedures.

Without saying a word, Grellik brings up a holographic screen and also a few more alien pieces of equipment. Not really liking where this might be going, Devin says nothing as his military discipline takes over his uneasiness.

"Okay now, all I'm going to do is take a few scans, some blood and tissue samples, and a few other tests before we begin on physicals, understood?" He asks, making sure to look the human in his small, beady hazel eyes. Although he'd never admit it, Grellik was always unsettled by the eyes of another species: way too small for his liking.

Devin just nods his head in understanding, wanting to get through these exams as fast as possible, and lies as still as he could on the bed, making the doctor's job easier.

Grellik just mumbles a few things under his breath as he scans Devin, making sure to sweep over every inch of his body so he won't miss anything, and sends the information to his terminal to check out all information gathered in a more thorough manner.

But, before he could actually finish the examination, Grellik's omni-tool starts whining and flashing red, signaling that something was wrong and that it requires immediate attention from the head doctor; which was Grellik.

"What in Aralakh's name is wrong with this… what?" He stops in mid-sentence, clear confusion written across his entire head.

Not really where this is going, Devin sits upright in bed and asks him what's wrong and why it sounds bad.

"It's not bad, per se, but my omni-tool here is fairly old; a model two Savant, but it shouldn't be malfunctioning like this." He explains in poor detail, making Devin raise an eyebrow at him.

"And what is it saying about me?"

Grellik just snorts in mild disbelief, "Well the fact that it thinks that you're a turian and quarian hybrid with bits of human in you for one thing, and all those unregistered gene mods for another. Then there's... whatever the hell that is in your system." He informs him, making Devin tilt his head and gain an even more confused face then Grellik had on his, internally panicking about him finding the imulsion that is in his system.

"Uh… yeah that's… I'm very certain that my mom and dad are human, especially my brothers and I. Take some blood samples, maybe skin too for analysis just to be sure, because that thing is broken as hell." He tells the krogan, making the doctor chuckle in amusement despite the errors his tools are having.

Maybe he could _'requisition'_ a few medical tools from the other mercenary groups around Omega… maybe.

Getting the collection process over with, Devin hopped up from the bed and began to head to room to his right labeled as "Physical/Exercise Room" and was followed by Grellik as they entered.

Devin only said eight words as they entered the physical examination area.

"Well, let's get this started then, shall we?"

* * *

After an hour of doing fairly simple exercises and motions, they moved onto some of the more physically demanding exercises: such as drag and carry maneuvers, rope climbing, and even rappelling tactics, and Devin aced them all.

"Well that wraps up the physicals, and you passed with good scores, so head on up to Vakarian to talk with him, he always talks to the new recruits personally." Grellik tells him, waving his arm towards the set of doors that leads to the main building.

Devin nods as he puts his helmet back on, popping his neck as he does so and waves goodbye to the krogan.

After he leaves, Grellik sends all the information about his bodily scans and measurements to Vakarian, because with what that human has inside of him, he shouldn't be alive, much less being a human…

* * *

Devin finally enters the main building from the bottom floor, glad that he's away from the basement areas. He's never liked going below ground, an experience with his APC falling into an emergence hole made sure of that.

Asking a few people about Archangel's whereabouts, Devin learned that he generally stayed in the upper floor of the building, something about him being a sniper and being more comfortable in high places. And when he walked through the doors, he merely looked up and greeted him with a nod and a hello.

"Hmm? Oh yes, sorry about that. Just trying to plan out a big assault on the Blue Suns warehouse, a lot of valuable equipment, supplies, and information is stored inside." Garrus tells him, staring intently at the holographic table that resides in the middle of the room.

"Hey it's no problem, someone has to plan these things out, it's not like a game where everything is linear. You do have to account for all the unknowns too: such as traps, diversions, troop count, supplies, building layout, and how much manpower we'll need to ensure victory." He explains, walking up to the table and staring down at it intently.

Garrus merely chuckles and shakes his head, "Ain't that the truth. Sounds like you're speaking from experience then huh? If so, then at least I have another leader to rely on, if I need the help." He says, simply appraising Devin in a subtle way for catching on to what all needs to be done for a mission to be successful.

Devin stopped at that, looking at the turian with confusion.

"Aren't Tulma and Sidonis capable leaders? I'm pretty sure that they deserve some credit." He tells him, believing him to be putting their roles down in his favor.

Garrus merely sighs and shakes his head, simply stating that Sidonis is an engineer and vehicular mechanic, while Tulma does have cabal training, she gets a little too hot-headed when things are downhill fast and they're losing too many people.

"And please keep this between us; but I'm having suspicions about Sidonis. Like he's doing things under the radar, and actively hiding any evidence about it. It makes me worried… I wonder if Shepard felt this way, back when he tried to get the councilors to send some extra aid against Saren." He says out loud, shaking his head in disappointment.

"Is that your friend who was killed?"

All Garrus did was nod at his response, walking over to a couch and sitting down on it, while Devin followed behind.

"Tell me about him, he sounds like he's badass." He coaxes, his inner compassionate side coming out for the alien.

"Commander John Shepard… damn fine man. First human spectre, the man who brought Saren to justice, saved the councilors, and stopped the Geth and Sovereign from destroying all life in the galaxy… He was a good man, a paragon of humanity, and he always cared about those under his command. He even went out of his way on days when we had down time and leave, just to talk to us. And if a non-human crew member was feeling out of place, he'd talk to them, made sure they felt welcomed and a part of the crew. Especially Tali and Liara, those two were nervous as can be when they first came on to the Normandy. But instead of letting a crew member show them around in some bland tour, he showed them where to they'd be sleeping, where they'd eat, which bathrooms were for which genders, even though he really shouldn't have walked _into_ the female bathrooms, and where they could be helpful on the ship." He explains, getting lost in memories of better times.

Devin felt bad, mainly for Garrus, but also for the fact that he'd never get the chance to meet the man himself.

"So, he'd embarrass himself just for the sake of making sure that others would feel better? Damn, that takes commitment right there. Reminds me of my youngest brother, Benjamin. Kid was always too nice for his own good; always helping other kids with problems, embarrassing himself in front of girls so that the one girl in the group who was feeling down would let off a smile… especially after the war started. I just…"

Garrus caught onto him trailing off and responded with "Skyllian Blitz?"

"Hmm?"

"The Skyllian Blitz was the war that the Alliance declared on the Batarian Hegemony for raiding and enslaving human colonies, Mindoir being the most infamous and bloodiest fight. Followed up by the butchering at Torfan, a batarian controlled moon, then the famous battle on Elysium, where Shepard himself saved a lot of lives and became a war hero. Funny thing, I still think that that they have a bounty on his head, even after two years since his death." He muses, bringing his three-fingered hand up to his chin in thought.

"Eh fuck 'em, who cares about them anyways." He tells him, leaning back into the couch and adjusting his posture to get comfortable.

"Exactly, even though not all of them are bad, a good majority of them are still likely to kill you as they are to put a slave collar onto your neck."

Devin nods his head in understanding, contemplating any interaction from them in the future. Never know when he'll be fighting them, or fighting alongside them.

* * *

After about thirty minutes of bullshitting and joking around, it was close to the end of the day (at least on Omega) and Devin bid Garrus a goodnight and turned to leave. Stating that he'll need to get rest for the day that's ahead and that he'll be ready for a call to action if he needs him.

After leaving, Tulma deactivates her cloak and approaches Garrus, coming to take a seat beside him, looking at him with an eye ridge raised in questioning.

"So, what do you make of him Garrus?" She asked, gesturing to the door that Onyx had just left through.

Hearing Garrus chuckle in apprehension, she turned just in time to see him shake his head, then looked straight at her and said, "Honestly? He has me suspicious and a little bit worried."

"What do you mean? Is he a threat that needs to be dealt with, or possibly someone who was planted to get closer to us?" She asked, thinking about ways to try and deal with him in a sideways approach. After seeing him throw vorcha and a krogan off of him like they weighed nothing, a head-on fight would definitely kill her.

"No, not at all. I'm thinking of something along the lines of a science experiment by Cerberus." He elaborates, his voice never raising nor changing tones.

That caught Tulma's attention very quickly, because everyone knows that Cerberus is a very pro-human group that has been publicly named as terrorists by both the council and humanity. Nothing good has come from them.

"I can see that I have your attention and yes, I personally have seen and heard some of the… experiments that they had performed: both on my old friend and his squad on Akuze, and with the thorian creatures from Feros two years ago. But him? I don't know what the hell I should feel about him." He explains, remembering all the fucked-up studies that he encountered beforehand.

When Tulma asked if he could elaborate further, Garrus typed a few commands in his omni-tool and a screen appeared on the holographic table. On it was a picture of Onyx without his armor and a close-up of his face, and a long packet of paragraphs beside his image.

"What is all this?" She asked, looking closely at the human, and from what she sees, he's as muscular as his armor suggests and as large.

"This," Garrus says, gesturing at the display, "is everything that Grellik found within his body. His DNA? A mixture of dextro and levo perfectly combined with no negative side effects whatsoever, several gene mods that are not only unknown and unregistered, but highly illegal within council space, and get this; a regenerative healing factor. Very similar to a krogan going through blood-rage. Not only that, but Grellik seems to have found some strange _thing_ within his system, something that appears to cling to most of his muscle tissue and nervous system. He couldn't explain what it was, only that it appears to be receding slowly, given enough time." He explains in detail, highlighting areas in the medical report with this information stored inside.

"That's… that's impossible. He should be dead." She tells him, standing up at the sheer absurdity about the man she recruited.

"Should be, but isn't. And have you noticed how tense he is around non-humans? Like he's never been around them much, or at all. And what organization has the man-power, funding, equipment, and no legal repercussions to perform this level of surgical procedures on a human?" Garrus asks rhetorically, seeing the gears turning inside Tulma's head metaphorically.

After several minutes of contemplating on what the hell is wrong with Onyx, she looks up at Garrus and simply asks what they should do about him.

Garrus sat deep in thought, going over his interaction with the man before he left, and shrugged his shoulders.

"Nothing, just leave him be. Although, since he is familiar with you more than anyone else here, why not work with him. Take him out to look for places of importance, or even with you on some of the more physically demanding jobs, like getting into a firefight with Blue Suns in an old mining tunnel deep within the bowels of Omega." He tells her, making her looking at him pointedly as she rolls her eyes.

"I told you that everything was under control and that I didn't need help."

"That's not what Glaz told me. Something about you dangling off a railing by your feet, flailing wildly and squawking like a newborn in the dark." He flatly tells her, making her stammer as her face flushes a deeper blue from embarrassment. Eventually, she groans as she rubs her face, shaking it in the process.

"Glaz said that he couldn't find me through his rifle scope… spirits, I'm never living that down, am I?" She asks no one in particular, making Garrus laugh at her expense.

"Go on get some rest, spirits know you need it for the raid in two days. I'll deal with everything here, in the meantime, don't worry."

She sighs and nods as she stands up, making her way to the door as what she saw about Onyx kept playing through her mind. He wasn't a normal human, and from what she seen, it supports her theory.

"What to do with you Onyx… maybe, just maybe, we can use you as heavy support, but with that chainsaw on your rifle, maybe frontline assault… very peculiar…" And with that, Garrus continued to inspect the medical and physical report that Grellik made of him.

Damn near super soldier material: with his size, strength, and regeneration, it would make sense. Add in his weapons, which Glaz tested, which were a shotgun that could tear a Blue Suns commando-grade armor in half. A rifle that fired a high-caliber bullet that could bring down most shield systems within eight to ten rounds, then mulch through the armor beneath and rupture organs inside of the poor bastard, and throw in the chainsaw that could cut straight through a steel alloy bar, that thing is a nightmare at both medium range and close-quarters combat. And finally, the magnum that fires an absolute monster of a round, something called a 500 Smith & Wesson magnum, whatever that is, that can quite literally pop someone's head at close range.

What in spirit's name would require the use of such rounds to begin with?

Just another mystery tacked onto the man who refers to himself as _Onyx_, a mystery that he's isn't so sure if he wants to find out or not.

Putting this off for now, he goes back to the holo-table to finish the assault plans that he's forming, taking what Onyx had told him about statistics and scenarios into mind, and finishes the beginning part within an hour.

Taking that as his cue to get some sleep, he retires for the night, thoughts of the new human recruit lingering within his mind.


	3. A Gear Made for War

**A/N: New chapter is up and I hope that you all like it and that everything in it is fine with your all's tastes. Not gonna lie though, I like how the action scenes play out in this chapter, and yes the chainsaw is used once in this chapter (you'll see), and our main character will be getting his first taste of actual combat against *drum-roll* the Blue Suns!**

**Onto the reviews (now sitting at four, and I am ecstatic about it, as well as the additional follows and favorites):**

**Blaze: That's actually how I seen how first contact would go, considering the alliance that the locust would have with humanity at that time, but the brumak would be a tad bit overkill (unless they use a force consisting of aerial attacks and heavy armor shelling the cities to the point to warrant the use of one, then sure) but the same problem with before is still present for how they are put into the normal life of an average citizen (as normal as you can be as a 7ft tall subterranean humanoid that can literally rip you in half with little effort).**

**Leman: My god, how could I have been so blind to that! I swear, I thought I had mentioned that. But after this chapter gets posted, I'll immediately get to solving that issue, I promise. Thank you so much for bringing that to my attention, and I'm glad that you like my story!**

**Eu: Thank you, I'm glad you liked it!**

**Disclaimer: I own neither franchise, just whatever I character and/details that I add in.**

* * *

**Chapter Three: A Gear Made for War**

It had been nearly two days since Devin had that talk with Garrus, and in those days he had been learning how to utilize the alien weaponry around him, learning to use the avenger and vindicator rifles, a carnifex heavy pistol, and a scimitar shotgun. Though he elected to leave them behind, in case someone wanted to use them instead, and stuck with his COG weaponry. He had to use something that was both familiar and had a lot of stopping power, which is what his weapons had in large quantity.

Though he will say that his omni-tool by far outpaces his TACCOM by a significantly large margin: it can act as both a communications device, an online web browser, had a universal translator, and then there's the fact that it could play games. That was his personal favorite.

But like all good things, everything must come to an end; Tulma stopped by and told him that he's going with the others on a raid to the Blue Suns' warehouse, as a little test to see if his actions stack up alongside his words. Groaning as he had to save his game and log off, Devin popped his neck and back to get rid of the stiffness and grabbed his weapons.

Glaz made him several dozen magazines total for both his boltok and lancer, and about a hundred shells for his gnasher, but since he didn't have anywhere that could store his excess ammo in his satchels, he just stored them within his wall locker and grabbed nine lancer mags, each with 90 rounds loaded, 48 shotguns shells with eight already loaded into the tube, and ten boltok speed loaders, each with six rounds. He really liked the extended mags on his lancer; they basically turned the rifle into a light-machine gun. And add in the fact that his armor could hold extra equipment, means that he could carry more ammo into battle.

Leaving his corner of the room that he slept in, he quickly caught up with Tulma and asked what his position in the battle plan would be. He was met with a shrug, with her saying that he can go to whatever position he's most comfortable with and continue from there.

Devin just nods his head, accepting her answer and follows her into one of four large vehicles that served as troop transports to and from the warehouse.

Taking his seat with the three other people in the transport, Devin immediately began to prepare his weapons for the on-coming conflict that lies ahead. Such as making sure that each weapon was loaded, each piece of the lancer and the bayonet functioned properly by looking down the sights, sliding the magazine in and out of the receiver, pulling the bolt halfway back to see if the bullet was properly fed, and finally seeing if the chainsaw driving mechanism wasn't going to stall anytime soon.

Satisfied that his lancer was in top quality with all parts and pieces working properly, he stored it on his right magnetic plate and grabbed his gnasher and made sure that the lever would rotate properly, feed a new shell into the barrel, if the tube had the other seven shells inside of it like it should have, and if the butt end of it showed any damage from using it to crush locust heads in.

After he was done, he finally put that away on the left magnetic plate and reached down to his right thigh to inspect his boltok. Pulling the cylinder from the barrel by hitting the ejector, he spun it multiple times, ensuring that it would feed the next shot properly and not lock up on him, then moved on to using the ejector rod to unload each individual round from the cylinder and manually reload it one at a time. Satisfied with the results, he gives one last spin before he knocks the cylinder back into place within the frame and places it back at his side.

"I'm sorry to sound rude, but are those _actual_ chemically propelled rounds?" Asks Mayenda, an asari adept, as she looked at Devin with confusion spreading across her facial features.

Nodding his head in affirmation, Devin simply responds with a yes. Hearing the asari scoff in incredulity, he turns and looks at the woman with a perplexed look on her face whilst shaking her head.

"By the goddess, it really wasn't a joke… and you think that those bullets of yours could do anything to modern-day armor and shield systems?" She asks him, already picturing how the operation is going to go downhill from the start.

Devin merely laughs aloud, grabbing his lancer and revving the chainsaw to show her something neat and says, "Well, that's what the chainsaw is for; if bullets can't stop it, then cutting it down with this baby will accomplish it. Believe me, I'm confident in my weapons and my capabilities to show you that even the newest, top-of-the-line and cutting-edge weaponry can learn a thing or two from their primitive grandparents. Besides, haven't you ever wanted to show your enemy why they shouldn't fuck with you?" He explains, releasing the revving handle on the weapon and folding it back into its spot.

"That's nothing short of barbarism, only something that a krogan would enjoy." She tells him, appalled by his response and with how casual he was about using it against another person.

Devin merely shrugs, laying his weapon down on his lap as he awaits the orders to disembark from the vehicle and takeover the warehouse. Ignoring the disturbed looks on everyone else's faces, he tones them all out until it his time to get to business.

Tulma was going over what he had said within her mind, noticing just how sincere and serious he sounded when he told Mayenda about him planning on using the chainsaw while in the middle of fighting, and that he's done it numerous times beforehand. And, given how she had it revved up and dangerously close to her neck when she first met him, she could definitely say that he's comfortable with using it on anyone designated as the enemy. Spirits have mercy on the poor soul that has to experience it before they die, because from the look of the teeth on the sawblades, they really were meant for tearing through armor, flesh, and bone alike.

With that in mind, she looks to her left at Onyx and when he looked back, she opened her mouth to speak but couldn't find the proper words to ask her question.

"Something on your mind ma'am?" He asked her, tilting his head at her in curiosity.

Clearing her throat, Tulma starts her sentence by pointing at the lancer, "You… you aren't really going to use the chainsaw on someone are you?" She asks timidly, even though she's with a group of vigilantes, her turian code considers this type of weapon highly barbaric in almost all military doctrines of war… besides krogan and _maybe _batarian. They do use explosive collars and control chips, after all.

Onyx merely shrugs in response, looking at his lancer with indifference, "Not if I can't help it, I'd like to try and shoot someone dead, but if the situation calls for close quarters then yeah, I will saw someone completely in half; from shoulder to hip, or groin to shoulder. Hell, one time I stuck my lancer inside this fuckers' neck, revved my bayonet, and didn't stop until I was cutting up the concrete beneath him."

He looked back at the wall on the other side of the van, until he noticed how silent it got after he finished talking. When he looked at them, he noticed how pale Mayenda and Jennifer, a human sentinel, were with their faces contorted in visible disgust, but Tulma, on the other-hand, looked something mixed between worry and a little bit of uneasiness, if going by how her mandibles were opened and low-hanging (Devin's been doing his research on facial features).

"What?" He simply asked, ignorant at why they're looking at him like a sociopath.

"Why would you ever do something like that? That's, that's cruelty!" Jennifer asked him in shock, her voice almost raised into a scream at what he told them.

'_Ah. That's why they're looking at me like that.'_ He thought to himself, understanding where they're coming from.

"Do you really want to know?" He asked them, voice deathly calm, and that sent chills down all of their spines. "It was because the son of a bitch that I did that to deserved to die in one of the most painful ways I could think of, at the moment. It was shooting children, _children_, point blank in the knees with a shotgun, completely tearing them off. Then, it followed that up by pushing them to the ground and stomping their heads in. Seeing that with my own eyes, I lost it; wasted all of my ammo into its limbs, stomped on their remains repeatedly, then stabbed my lancer into its chest, just below the collarbone, and turned my chainsaw on. After I was finished, I was covered from head to toe in bits and pieces of bones, organs, and flesh. Didn't matter though, it still wouldn't bring those kids back." He told them flatly, voice never raising or changing pitch, then he looked down at the floor and stayed like that for the remainder of the trip.

That revelation shocked all of them, and here they were thinking that he was some sort of sociopathic freak, but now that they knew his reasoning, they're reconsidering their judgement about his character.

With what had just occurred, Tulma considered Garrus' words the other day, about how he was most likely a Cerberus experiment. And killing children in a way that ensures that they're families couldn't even recognize them? Well, it's sad to say that even she sees why some of Cerberus' ideologies are against non-humans, because killing children is a war-crime that guarantees a firing squad immediately after the court sentencing is over.

'_Jennifer,' _She thought to herself, _'poor girl knows what it's like to lose a child to non-humans. Damn batarian salvers.'_

"The person who did it… he wasn't human, was he?" Jennifer asked, trepidation filling her voice, looking at Onyx with a pit forming within her stomach.

"No." Is all he said, his helmet looking directly at the woman as her facial features fell.

The rest of the ride is in dead silence, no one willing to say anything to fill the void that was left within the revelations' wake. And with Devin thinking about that day in full detail made him pissed, and with these mercenaries, he had a way to relieve that anger. After this operation is over, he'll make sure that these people will learn to not fuck with an Onyx Guard.

* * *

Another ten to fifteen minutes passes by in silence before the transport landed, the other occupants within standing up, exiting the vehicle in a hurried fashion. Taking his time to get his breathing exercises over with, Devin stood up and readied his lancer, switching it from safe to full auto, and opened the door. Seeing that the others were doing the same, he made his way to where they had gathered, and stood close enough so that he could hear the plan of attack clearly.

"Alright, here's the situation everyone: with the reports I've received, if they're accurate, there's at least 70 Blue Suns personnel within the warehouse here. A few dozen normal ground troops, mixed with long range support, tech specialists, and at most a dozen commandos. All in all, they have us out-numbered four to one, but with our newest recruit here," Garrus told them, motioning his head to Onyx, "being the new heavy support specialist and all, we're hoping to some serious damage. Remember this, this op is an asset denial; take out their main force, and as we're clearing the four floors, make sure that no one gets to our demo crew. Onyx, you take point and clear the bottom floor and the adjacent rooms of any hostile, I'm trusting you with not only my faith, but the lives of these men and women. Do us proud here, and you'll have earned your place amongst us. Understood?" He asked him, receiving a nod from the large human as he revved his lancer in anticipation.

"Yes sir. But instead of destroying everything inside, we could take some of it with us, I'd much rather have gained supplies on a mission than losing them, and what if there are people who surrender, sir? We leave them be, or do we finish them off?" Devin asked, to which Garrus nodded at his questioning and logic.

"Good points there, Onyx. To answer your first suggestion, yes, I think that'd be more beneficial to us in the long run, and to answer your question, we strip them of their weapons and send them running, they may be mercenaries who have probably committed several crimes, but killing someone who surrenders is still murder." He tells him, readying his mantis sniper rifle as the final preparations are nearly completed.

"Understood, sir."

And after a good two minutes of the demolition crew setting up breaching charges along the hangar doors, everyone became tense, awaiting the oncoming firefight within a cramped building, loaded with supplies, hostiles, and tight corners and spaces. All in all, a high-risk mission, but with a high reward awaiting them all at the end.

A countdown appeared at the top right corner of everyone's HUDs, indicating that only ten seconds remained until they cross the point of no return.

As soon as the clock hit zero, the large doors erupted into a vicious explosion, sending bits and pieces of flaming shrapnel and jagged metal into any of the unlucky mercs that just so happened to be caught within the radius. They were dead before they hit the ground, the fragments embedding themselves deep into their torsos and necks.

Devin charged on through the opening, using the moment of shock and disarray to effectively put down two more troops with a long spray from his lancer, their armor and shields crumpling beneath the large bullets and shredding through them like a cheese grater, and while he laid down suppressive fire, the rest of the group came through the opening, throwing grenades to cause more people to go into cover, buying them even more time to get into cover and/or position to truly start the assault.

Garrus began climbing up a nearby ladder, trying to gain an advantage with his rifle so that he can pick off any target out of range of assault rifles, or who were becoming a nuisance.

Tulma was by Onyx's side, her cabal training making her a deadly opponent in close range, especially with her nightshade venom-tipped blades. Two people have already succumbed to their internal bleeding and poisoning that the blades caused, proving how deadly they can really be.

* * *

Back to Devin with Jennifer and Mayenda; the three of them were taking heavy fire from their front, and from what he could remember of their looks and armors, one appeared to be a commando with a tech specialist and two regular soldiers. Nothing that he couldn't handle, it just kept getting annoying when the commando keeps throwing biotic attacks left and right at them. Now, he could always just roadie run towards the guy and introduce him to the business end of his gnasher, but that would leave the other two open to fire.

Thinking quickly, he looked at both of them as his plan was coming to action.

"May, I need you to throw a warp at the commando and pepper his shields with your shuriken, and Jennifer, I need you to throw an incinerate at the bastard, make him feel the explosion. After that, I'll run up ahead and deal with him and the tech guy, you two will mop up the others and please, for the love of god, keep an eye for people with those fucking grenade launchers; I've seen too many people die because they weren't paying attention to their surroundings." He tells them, seeing them nod in agreement with his plans and heads up, which in turn made him nod.

"On three, okay? One, two, THREE!" He shouts, watching as both of them threw out their respective attacks in succession, causing a tech explosion to happen.

Seeing that the batarian commando was thrown against one of the shelves, denting it in the process, Devin sprints his way to the fallen merc and mantles over the crate that lies in between them, causing the batarian to be thrown to the ground just as he was standing up. Leveling his gnasher right at his head, Devin pulls the trigger right as the mercenary's eyes widen, completely turning his head into a fine, bloody mist.

Getting back into cover, he maneuvered his way around until he was on the opposite end of the barrier that the tech specialist was behind. Readying his combat knife, Devin jumps out of cover and grabs the man, dragging him across the barrier and wrenching his knife deep within the head crest of the turian, twisting it and then kicking the dead alien away from him.

Sheathing his knife, Devin gives an all-clear to the rest of the team in the main room, the other members having cleared their areas with relatively low injuries: a few with cuts and scrapes, and some of the others with bullet wounds in the arms and thighs, but he knew that this so-called _medi-gel_ would heal and mend those wounds efficiently. A hell of a lot better than the meds and the stimulants the COG used back home.

"Group up everyone, we need to take an assessment of how much damage we've taken, and how much time and resources that we have to finish the mission." Garrus called, everyone gathering near to give him their reports.

Garrus grabbed Onyx by the shoulder and pulled him to the side so that they could speak in private.

"Sir?" Is all Devin asked, looking at him inquisitively, wondering what additional orders may be given to him and rest of the group.

"Nice use of commands to have Mayenda and Jennifer using their powers to detonate that commando's armor and barriers, takes quick thinking and good leadership skills to do something like that." He complements him, patting him on the shoulder in a job well done.

"Thank you, sir, but we still haven't cleared the adjacent rooms of all hostiles, yet." He informs him, making his way to Tulma and his small squad of vigilantes.

"OH SHIT, YMIR!" Jathor, the batarian tech specialist, shouts, pointing at the large mech that made its way through one of the rooms on the side, lumbering its way to all of them as its weapons began to charge up.

Everyone ducked and scrambled for cover, narrowly avoiding the hail of mass accelerator rounds that began to rain upon where they stood just seconds before.

Devin was dragged into cover by Grellik, who looked at him curiously as he shakes his head in warning. "I wouldn't go out there if I were you kid, that thing has military grade armor, weapons, and shielding. You go out there, you'll be torn to shreds in seconds."

Devin took a quick look at the thing before coming back into cover and, if he had to be honest with himself, the thing reminded him of a silverback exoskeleton. And if that's the case, then that should mean that its back should be a major weak spot; get a few explosives near it, then it should weaken it enough so that his lancer chainsaw can cut its damn head off.

"Hey Grellik, mind keeping its attention for a little bit? I've got an idea forming in my head." He asked him, plans and scenarios forming in his head at a rapid rate.

The old krogan merely laughs at the question, his body glowing with biotic energy as he grinned in anticipation.

"Didn't I tell you that you'll be torn to shreds? You know what? I'll make sure it forgets everyone else in the room!" He exclaims, throwing out a shockwave towards the mech to punctuate his statement.

Devin merely nods, hopping from cover to cover to get to Garrus and the demolition crew. Although avoiding rounds that were traveling way too fast for his liking, and dodging missiles that threw him on his ass more than once got on his nerve quickly, he finally makes it to them, pressing up against a wall to lower his chances of being shot.

"Onyx, what in the hell were you thinking? That was a suicide run, if I ever saw one." Garrus commented, looking at the man in exasperation for the little stunt he just pulled.

"No time to explain, but I need you to use some of our explosives on that thing's backside where the weakened armor lies preferably thermobaric. Get those shields down, nail it with those explosives, and I'll finish the rest, understood?" He explained, looking at the left-over explosives that were planned to be used on breaching doors and for destroying the supply crates within the warehouse.

"Are you out of your damn mind? How in the hell are you going to accomplish that last part? Saw its head off?" He asked rhetorically, shaking his head in disbelief until he seen Onyx revving said chainsaw as he held it up to his chest level.

Chuckling to himself, he merely looked back at Garrus and simply said, "Exactly." And before he could retort and retract his statement, Onyx ran off to the side passages, staying hidden from the mech's targeting system.

Garrus sighs in exasperation, but goes with his plan nonetheless, ordering the demo crew to circle around and weaken the armor on its back so that Onyx could finish it off, while Grellik was keeping its shields from recharging.

Making sure to stay out of the line of sights of that targeting program so that his plan wouldn't go to hell in a hand-basket, Devin kept dodging and rolling into cover, years of experience from fighting the locust being ingrained deeply within his mind that it has become muscle memory at this point. And after sometime of continuing these maneuvers, he activates his comms link and contacts Garrus.

"Sir, I need those explosives to be aimed behind this son of a bitch, or else my ass is grass. So, with that in mind, BLOW THIS FUCKER TO HIGH HELL!" He screamed, muscles tensing in anticipation for the inevitable shock-waves and explosions.

No sooner than he said that, he felt the decompression from the explosives as they reached their mark; the mech was engulfed in flames as the thing's shields and armor couldn't hold up to the attack.

With a war-cry and fluid movement, Devin brought his chainsaw up to bear, running at full sprint towards the mech in its weakened state, driving the bayonet straight into the back and tearing it to the side. After this, he sawed partway through one of the legs, not having enough time to completely sever it before it turned its gun at him, to which he dodged. With it hunched over on one leg in a kneeling position, he finally drove the lancer straight into to back of its neck, the sawblades catching and tearing through the supports held within, before it completely severs it.

Finishing that, Devin released the lever, allowing the chainsaw to halt its function, and lowered his arms, shaking his head at what had just happened.

Looking up, he waved playfully at his team, only to notice that something was wrong; they were raising their weapons at him? Why would they be…

'_I didn't finish it.'_ Is all that he was able to say within his mind, turning in time to see the rocket launcher that it possessed being used as a battering ram.

Not having enough time to dodge out of the way, Devin merely tensed up all of his muscles, readying to get his shit rocked like a Centaur tank going up against a berserker.

And then he felt it connect, being thrown through the air and smashing through crates at least twenty feet away. Shortly after, the YMIR exploded, its power cells finally giving out from the strain of not having a central processor and the continuous gunfire whittling it down, bathing the area in a blinding flash of light.

Seeing that the mech was no longer a concern, Garrus, Tulma, and Grellik rushes over to Onyx, Grellik tearing and pushing the destroyed crate off the man so he could get a medical scan on him.

"Shit, shit, shit," Garrus kept muttering, removing his helmet and seeing that Onyx was still conscious and shaking his head to get a better sense of what the fuck is going on.

"Hold still there, let me scan you to see what that thing did to you." Grellik ordered him, waving his omni-tool across him multiple times as he scanned his body for any damage.

"He has a concussion, fractured ribs, some internal bleeding and a hell of a headache." He lists off, looking at Garrus as they pulled him out of the debris.

"Guys, I'll be—" Devin started to tell them, only to be interrupted by them telling him to stay quiet.

"No guys, I'm good, no need to worry about—" He tries again only to be interrupted again by Tulma as she pushed one of her fingers against her face when she shushed him.

Eventually, Devin gets tired of it and pushes them away from him, giving him enough time to stand up and pop his neck.

"ARE YOU CRAZY?! DID YOU NOT HEAR WHAT WAS JUST SAID ABOUT YOUR CONDITION?!" Tulma screams at him, staring straight up at the suicidal human.

Devin stood there, confused as hell about her behavior. But all he does is shrug at her behavior, merely saying that he did hear it.

"I don't see what the big deal is, the Crimson Omen will take care of that shortly anyways, just give me a minute or two." He tells them, reaching down and grabbing his helmet and placing it back on his head, sighing in satisfaction as he shook his head from side to side.

"The what?"

"I think he means his regeneration, Tulma. Grellik, scan him again." Garrus orders, looking at Devin in suspicion once again.

Doing as he's told, Grellik waves his omni-tool over Onyx, scanning the same areas that had damage done to them beforehand. After doing this, he looks at the data that was collected and stares at it blankly, merely showing Garrus its contents.

"The fucker here only has minor fractures, some still major, minor internal bleeding that is healing, and some bruising in place of his previous injuries. By the gods… you really are part krogan, huh?" He asks the man, barking out a laugh as he patted his shoulder approvingly.

Shrugging nonchalantly, Devin just picks his weapons back up from them being thrown off of him while he was in mid-flight.

"Let's go people, mission isn't going to finish itself, you know." He tells them, walking by to catch up with the rest of the team as they made their way deeper into the warehouse.

All is quiet in between the three; not really knowing how to proceed with their current predicament and the revelation that his regeneration was in fact the real deal.

Tulma just stands there shocked, looking at where Onyx had left while Garrus and Grellik stood beside her.

"So… Cerberus experiment?" Is all that she said, not bothering to look at them as she spoke.

"Cerberus experiment." They parroted, nodding in agreement at what had occurred right before their eyes.

* * *

Devin felt thankful that his Crimson Omen gene was still around in this alternate universe, he was somewhat afraid of it being rendered inert when he teleported here. But from their reactions, especially Tulma's, humans aren't supposed to just regenerate muscle, organ, and bone tissue when they get injured. And that thought worried him a little; it shows him that in the eyes of this universe, he's even farther from being a human than he truly is.

Putting this topic out of his mind for now, he catches up to the rest of his group, sans Tulma, and assumes his original position as squad leader, this time being in charge of Sidonis who is replacing Tulma at the moment.

"Alright men, we've got to clear these side rooms while the other teams do their part, and if we're quick, clean, and precise, we'll be home by lunchtime." He tells them, readying his weapons and checking his HUD on his shield levels to see if the mech had damaged them.

Satisfied that everything is in working order, he stacks up along the right side of a doorframe, leaning against the wall as everyone follows suit.

"How are we going to do this; hack the door controls to allow us inside or breach it using breaching charges? Your call." Sidonis asks, looking at Onyx with his omni-tool activated and ready to be used.

"How long will it take to hack?"

"Maybe a few minutes, if not less, given how tight security is on these." He elaborates, typing commands and codes on it to prime it for hacking.

Devin merely shook his head, indicating that he wasn't going on with using that option.

"Not enough time and there's no telling how much defenses they'll have set up and ready by the time we get through this door. Use breaching charges, that way we'll get more of an element of surprise and the smoke created would give us a slight edge in combat." He explains, looking at the three of them as they nod in agreement at his logic and thinking. And every second they waste, the more time these mercenaries would have to prepare a counter attack.

"Yes sir, applying breaching charges right now." Sidonis said, pulling out four long, thick strips of a dark grey material from one of his satchels and begins to place them along the edges of the door, then finally placing a large version in the center of it all.

"Don't worry about this not being able to blow it off its frame, there's a thermite charge that goes off before the actual explosion, weakening the metal just enough for it blow apart." And with that said, Sidonis pulls out a cylinder with a button located at the top.

All Devin had to do was nod his head in confirmation, which gave Sidonis all the permission he needed to blow this door down and secure the room behind it.

Filing in through the room, the four of them gunned down any and all resistance that was held inside, resulting in a bloody mess and six hostiles killed in the process.

"Good work people, carry on with the original objective from here and we'll be home by lunch time." Devin told them, loading a fresh magazine into his lancer and putting the previous one in a dump pouch on his right-side satchels.

* * *

Another half hour later, the entire group of vigilantes grouped up in the main hangar bay of the warehouse, with supplies that have been commandeered at the front entrance where they breached through, and the rest of the stock being rigged with thermite charges, thermobaric explosives, and a few satchel charges here and there scattered in between. All in all, it was a guaranteed destruction of anything not being taken by them.

"Alright everyone, let's wrap this up and secure the supplies, after that we're going to blow this place straight to hell. Afterwards, we'll rendezvous back at headquarters, understood?" Garrus calls out, receiving an assortment of confirmations and goes back to the shuttle that he came on and leaves, getting out of the area first to avoid getting killed due to his nature as a high value target.

Soon after, the demolition squad had their detonators primed, ready to destroy the contents that weren't taken. Everyone, by this point had loaded onto the air cars and were currently en route back to headquarters when they activated their detonators, bathing the warehouse and the entire area in an explosion and a flash of light, effectively destroying everything held within.

All in all, a good mission. There were some casualties, but none of them fatal, the mission objectives were completed with a 100% success rating, as all supplies were destroyed and all resistance was swiftly dealt with, with militaristic precision.

Devin was just happy that everyone made it out okay and alive, and ever since the Locust had begun their attacks back on E-Day, there was almost a guaranteed death of one or more people that were going on a mission against them. Then the Hammer Strikes effectively reduced everyone to an anarchy-like state. Afterwards, everything just went to hell for the whole world; most of the human population wiped out within a single week, locusts escaping back into the hollows and the civilians who weren't killed hated the COG. All in all, no one called it a victory or even a pyrrhic victory, only Armageddon.

* * *

When they landed back at headquarters, Devin followed everyone else back to the infirmary to get a more accurate reading of their body and the internal functions that the omni-tools may have missed. It made sense to him, medical work in the field was only a temporary solution and ensured that they had a chance to see the mission through.

Waiting on a medical cot, Devin had taken his helmet off and began to fiddle with it, boredom clearly lacing his facial features. For something so small, it was fairly dense; weighing close to 15 pounds, with the armor and other materials put into it to make sure that the wearer had an increase probability to survive any damage dealt to the head and brain.

Hearing someone walking up to him, Devin looked up and seen that it was Tulma looking at him with caution, her arms crossed across her stomach.

"Huh." Is all that she says, making him raise an eyebrow in a silent question.

"That's the first time I've seen your face without that helmet covering it." She clarifies, taking a seat across from him in a recently unoccupied cot.

Devin shrugs at this, setting the helmet on the metal floor, and adjusts his posture to get more comfortable.

"So, what can I do for you, something on your mind?" He asks her, knowing that she didn't come here to look at him.

"Several somethings, in fact."

He nodded, getting prepared to answer any question that she may have about or for him.

"Why do you constantly stay in your armor?" She asks first, motioning at his currently armored body.

"I'm more comfortable inside it, and given my previous occupation, going without it was a guaranteed death sentence." He explains, pointing at a few scratches and dents that adorned the armor's surface.

Tulma nods her head, accepting his answer and readies her next one by asking him about his name.

"What about it?"

"Well, we've known each other for nearly a week and since you know my name, I'd like to know yours in return." She elaborates, and Devin could see logic within her reasoning, to which he obliged.

"Devin, my name's Devin Carmine." He tells her, giving her a small grin as he leans back against the wall.

"Thank you, Devin, now just one more question; what in spirit's name is the Crimson Omen?" She asks him, staring at him with her full attention.

Devin sighs and shakes his head, knowing that question would come along sooner or later, but he did say that he'd answer her questions so…

"The Crimson Omen is the name of an extremely rare genetic deformity within the human body that accelerates the regenerative factor that the body already has to near super human levels. Broken and fractured bones can heal within an hour, flesh wounds would heal in half that time, organ damage in two hours, and finally other injuries are healed in mere minutes. It won't stop us from dying though, a close by explosion and headshots will still kill us, and overwhelming the regen will guarantee a kill too. Supposedly, and I do mean this in an extreme possibility that even I'm not sure of, it has something to do with that stuff Grellik found in my system." He explains, going over his medical training, and whatever other medical data and theories that he's seen, within his head.

Tulma merely nods, amazed at this revelation. Just how many humans had this gene within them that could make them like this?

"Just how rare is this gene?" She asked him, hoping that he'd know the answer.

Devin had to think about that one, from his understanding, of the 6 billion humans on Sera, only about a hundred thousand or so had it, and even then, that number was a very generous estimation. Most doctors agreed that it was above 70,000 but below 110,000 people.

With that in mind, he activates his omni-tool and punches the numbers into the calculator program, wanting to know for himself as well.

"Hmm, well from what I got on my omni-tool, there should be a little under 300,000 people with it. And even then, that's a very generous estimation. The most likely number is below a quarter of a million people, and even then, those are generous estimations." He tells her, shutting the programs down and turning his omni-tool off.

Tulma had put all of what Devin had told her into perspective; if all those humans were on Shanxi during the Relay 314 Incident, they'd have given the Hierarchy a staggering amount of trouble, more so than they already have. Just imagining them with super soldier healing, strength, and sheer tenacity to not stop until every last drop of their blood has been spilled, puts her mind on edge and sends chills down her spine.

"Wow… that's just… that's not something I ever thought of humanity being capable of doing something like that." She tells him, making him laugh at her remark.

He placated her mind by telling her that given with how many humans there are, there's an extraordinarily small chance that she'll meet another one with his genetics. And it worked, to a degree; she's not worried per se, but confused about why this hasn't been mentioned before. Probably to keep a trump card up their sleeve just in case things went wrong with them and rest of the galaxy, not that she couldn't blame them, that is.

* * *

After Grellik came by and made sure that everything that was wrong with him was fixed, via an in-depth scanning and medicinal practices, he gave Devin a clean bill of health, stating that his injuries were fully healed and that he is combat ready for the next mission.

Afterwards, Devin gathered his gear and made his way to the mess area, hoping to get some good food in his belly before retiring for the night. Passing through the doors, he was met with everyone from the ground team, Glaz, Garrus, Sidonis, and Tulma, each and every one of them with glasses full of liquid, probably alcohol, raised and cheering at him.

"MY LARGE FRIEND, HA HA, IT'S GOOD TO SEE YOU UP AND MOVING!" Glaz tells him, patting him on the back as he leads him to a table filled with food and drinks, each labeled for telling which was for either dextro or levo species, before shoving a large mug of alcohol in his hand.

"What is this?" He asks, removing his helmet and setting it on the table then smells the liquid, confirming that it is indeed alcohol.

"THAT my friend is the finest vodka from home, back in Russia on Earth. Very powerful and damn good, fit for a man of your size and talents." He clarified, taking a drink from the bottle that this vodka came from, and laughed heartily.

"Well, if it's half as good as you say it is, then I guess that I have to drink it." He tells him, before putting the drink up to his lips and takes a few drinks before removing it and clearing his throat of the burn that it produced.

"Damn that shit's powerful, damn good too."

Hearing that, Glaz laughed and patted his shoulder before going off to do his own thing. Afterwards, Devin went to Garrus and asked him what's up with the celebration.

"What do you mean by that?" He asks in return, leaning back against a wall as he takes a drink from his small glass.

"Well, everyone is lively, especially after a mission is over with, and it looks like a few people are a bit happy to see me." He explains, seeing a few people wave at him when he looks over at the large mass of people at the tables

"Well, for one, the mission was a complete success, two, no one died, three, you took on a YMIR mech with a chainsaw, four, you're up and running around like you weren't rag dolled by said mech after it batted you away. To be fair, I think we all deserve a small celebration, especially with the excess supplies looted from the warehouse, the long time since we had a celebration, and the overall boost in morale that this will give them. Don't you agree?" He explains, making Devin nod at his answers and question to which Garrus does the same, before continuing.

"Just relax for a bit, you earned it. Besides, we've got an Eclipse mercenary base to take over, and there's this one slippery bastard that I want taken out when we do take it. But that's for later, right now, enjoy your time." He tells him, making him nod in acceptance.

"Alright, when should I expect this mission to happen? Sometime within the next week or two?" He asks, wanting to know just how much time he has to prepare for this assault against this 'Eclipse' group.

Garrus shrugged, merely stating that his question sounded accurate enough for his liking.

With that, Devin turned to leave, but stopped before he could get any further, and turned around once more to the turian.

"By the way, my name's Devin Carmine. Seeya later boss." He tells him, waving one last time before joining the festivities with the others.

Garrus merely chuckles, turning to look at Tulma when she came walking up to him.

"Something on your mind?"

She nods at his question, jerking her head to the side, wanting him to follow her to a relatively quiet corner of the room.

Obliging her, he follows her to said corner of the room, and crosses his arms in silent questioning.

Tulma opens her mouth, getting ready to tell him about the things that Devin told her, but stopped when Garrus beat her to the punch.

"Is this about what he told you in the med bay?" He asks her, leaning up against the wall to get comfortable.

"How'd you know?"

At her question, Garrus brings up his omni-tool and plays the conversation that happened between the two of them, making Tulma raise an eye ridge in questioning.

"Grellik sent this to me shortly after he finished patching up the others, given that you two were right beneath a camera, it was relatively easy to hear your conversation. Now, is this the only reason why you came to talk to me, or is there another one?" He elaborates, showing her the recording and video feed that was captured by the camera, while asking her if there was more to it than what she wanted to talk to him about.

Sighing in defeat, Tulma takes a deep breath as she picks her words to tell him.

"Honestly Garrus, I don't think we can trust him. Given with the evidence that we have found or have been told, he could easily be ex-Cerberus, and if they come looking for him… this whole station will become a warzone. Not only that, but what if he gets a chance to abandon us when we need him the most, and he leaves without turning back." She tells him, looking at the group of people celebrating with Devin sitting down and drinking whatever it was that Glaz had with him.

Garrus nods his head, then shakes it at her. "If that was the case, then he wouldn't have gone up against an YMIR mech with his chainsaw, knowing full well that it could kill him, he wouldn't have tried to keep as many people alive through the mission, and besides… he wouldn't have told us his name if he didn't trust us. I do believe that he is hiding something, yes, however, he has made a pretty good impression on us, if I do say so myself. Besides, an old friend once told me to look past what the surface that someone has, and try to see everything from their point of view. It'd change how you look at people, and maybe you'd even gain a powerful ally, but most importantly, a good friend to rely on." He finishes, remembering what Shepard had told him when he was talking to him about the gunnery sergeant's behavior towards him. And in the end, they did become good friends.

Tulma stops as she takes what he just told her into consideration; realizing that Devin has been kind and polite to all of them, and has even helped them without asking for anything in return. He's been… selfless to them, and it isn't fair for her to doubt him right now when he's still settling in. That's a perfect way to ruin someone's trust, is what Jennifer told her.

"Okay," she says, "I'll give him that chance, if not to be polite, then just to return his trust." She tells him, making Garrus nod at her answer.

"Good, now go on and relax, everyone's had an exhausting day today, and you'll all need it. I'll be over here if anyone needs anything, okay?" He finishes, leaving his last sentence as a rhetorical question, as Tulma nods and joins the group celebration.

After she left, he leaned his head back and sighed, chuckling to himself at some of the things he and Shepard had done together.

"Just like old times, Shepard, instead I'm in your place now."

* * *

**A/N: I decided to call the regen ability the Crimson Omen, mainly because that symbol is used throughout all of the games and even some of the comics. Another thing that I'm going with is that the imulsion _could_ be to blame for his healing factor. I hope that everyone is okay with me doing this.**

**The way I came up with the the numbers for people with the gene was from me taking the six or seven billion humans who lived on Sera, before E-day, and decided to have less than a thousandth (0.001) of a percent of people who had it. Now use that same figure for the human population in ME, roughly 21-23 billion, and you'll get roughly the same numbers. Then again, Devin was bullshitting his way through that so yeah, that's a thing.**

**As always, any reviews, favs, and follows are very much appreciated, but not needed; I'll keep posting chapters even if I don't get many, or any, of the three.**


	4. In the Shadow of an Eclipse

**A/N: Here's the next chapter for you all, and I hope that everyone had an amazing Fourth of July (if you're American, like me), and for those of you who aren't American, I still hope that you all had a great weekend as well. I got to see my brother for the first time in seven months, which was nice, and my family had a large cookout for the day. Seriously, we were expecting only about ten people to show up, not nearly half again that much. Oh well, we all still had a good time. This chapter has Devin is going up against the Eclipse, so that means mechs, biotics, tech specialists, and more in this chapter.**

**Review time:**

**Blaze: Normally, you'd be right about the omni-tool having those abilities, and maybe even the omni-blade (it does state in ME3 that they were rarely ever used prior to the reaper invasion), but that will be explained in this chapter. I hope that the explanation given will be suitable to answer your review properly.**

**We're up to 9 follows and favorites and over 750 views on this story! Thank you all so very much, and as always reviews, follows, and favorites are very much appreciated, but not needed; do that on your own free will. See you all next Monday, or the following one!**

**Disclaimer: I own neither franchise, just whatever characters and/or details that I add in.**

**Chapter Four: In the Shadow of an Eclipse**

It had been a week since the successful raid on the Blue Suns warehouse, a week of going through the annexed supplies, celebrating, and preparing for the next attack on the next mercenary group. The only problem with the planning the attack was _who_ they were going to attack. Devin knew that this would've been a problem at some point within the foreseeable future.

Waving his omni-tool at the holographic door control leading to the command room, Devin enters the room and sees Garrus, Tulma, and Sidonis all around the central console pondering on what to do next. Now, even though he calls Garrus and Tulma by their first name's, he's stuck to calling Sidonis by his last name, even though he knows his first name being Lantar. To him, Sidonis just sounds better to say than Lantar.

Pushing that thought aside, he takes his place beside Tulma and stares at the console in silence, until he exhales loudly, gathering everyone else's attention.

"Yes?" Garrus asks, raising an eye ridge at the man.

"Have you all decided on who we're raiding in a few days or are you three still stuck on the statistics?" He asks, gaining a sigh from Tulma as she shakes her head.

"No, no we have not."

Taking a look at the information on display, Devin skims over the details before nodding his head in satisfaction.

"Eclipse."

"What?" Sidonis asks, confused at the sudden proclamation.

"The Eclipse. With their tech, mechs, saboteurs, and espionage skills, I'd much rather get them out of the picture before they prepare a counter-attack when we go after them. Knowing the Blood Pack, they wouldn't be able to prepare one that's significant enough to slow us down, or even stop us entirely. However, the Eclipse could gather the resources, man-power, and the time to get one set-up and prepared to mow us down. Take them out before that can happen, all that remains is the Blood Pact and they only have strength and brute force on their side. Now that may be a problem, but we have a krogan battle master and my big ass on our side, so I'd say we're fine for that hurdle, when we get to it." He explains, going over the details and statistics of both sides, and what they can both do, if given time to prepare.

Garrus nodded his head, chuckling to himself as the others stood there flabbergasted at not being able to see something that was plainly simple and obvious. When the silence got to Devin, as he looked up at the three of them and said that it was a simple process of elimination and that it was the most logical choice.

Doing an about face, Devin gave a simple wave as he left through the doors and entered the lower levels, heading to one of the larger store rooms that was turned into a small shooting range, with the farthest target at fifty meters. Along the way, he thought about how much easier he must've made their days', knowing exactly what it was like to figure out which target that they should attack first. All in all, he's glad that instead of having to wait an additional week to get to the mission, it'd probably be only a day or two now.

Finishing his internal monologue and grabbing his weapons from his weapons locker, he heads to one of the three firing lanes, giving a simple nod of acknowledgement to one of the other people in the room, takes his position and readies himself for the few minutes that he's going to be there.

Pulling his lancer off of one of his magnetic plates, Devin flips the selector switch from safe to full-auto, given how there was only two fire modes for the damn thing, he fired it in bursts while aiming at the farthest target, maximizing the weapon's potential for medium distance combat. Switching from the target to a closer one, at twenty meters, and finished the rest of the magazine, before ejecting the empty magazine and putting it back into safety and setting it down on a nearby table.

Grabbing his gnasher off his other mag plate, he takes aim at the ten-meter target and fires all eight shells into it, satisfied that at ten meters it performs wonderfully. After pulling the lever to the front, he sets it down right next to the lancer, finished with the weapon and moving onto the next.

Finally, he pulls out his boltok and aims at the other ten-meter target and fires four rounds into it, and for the last two he shoots into the fifteen-meter target, one in the chest and one in the head. Twirling the magnum in his hand, he sets it back into his holster and gathers the spent shells and ammo brass and puts them into a dump pouch on his waist and grabs his weapons. Walking by the main workshop area, where Glaz could be generally found, he drops the pouch onto the table, giving the Russian a thumbs up and receiving one as he walks by.

Sitting down at one of the cleaning tables, Devin sat all of his weapons down and began the rigorous process of cleaning all of them, starting with the lancer, then the gnasher, and finishing with the boltok. All in all, an hour-long process for the man. Gotta make sure to get every nook and cranny on all his weapons.

After finishing, Devin went back to his bunk and decided to play more games on his omni-tool, laying on his bed and not caring or paying attention to anyone around him, or what's happening. That is, until Tulma taps his boot, causing him to look up from his current game of Solitaire, which he paused, before answering her.

"What's up?"

She looks down at him and asks him if he's ready for the assault on the Eclipse base and if so, would he hurry up and get to the transports.

At this, Devin's brain does a double take, not really catching up to the fact that the mission is happening today and not in a few days.

"What?"

Tulma groans at the response she'd gotten from the man, looking at him in exasperation as she shook her head.

"Seriously? You're the one who told us to attack the Eclipse! How could you not be ready for it!" She tells the man, both of her arms thrown in the air to prove her point.

"I didn't think that you'd all be attacking them TODAY! I thought that it'd be a couple days, three at most before we get to it, not two hours!" He tells the woman, confused that they would attack today.

"We already have the plans of attack for both groups written and shared between the three of us. We only needed to figure out which one to attack first, and then you came in and gave us that suggestion. Garrus said thanks, by the way." She finished, walking away from him with him following her shortly after.

Devin couldn't believe it either, he was so close to finishing his game for the first time. Didn't help that he couldn't understand what the cards meant… damn different humanity and their weird card games and bullshit game mechanics where you can't save progress…

Groaning at the loss of his progress, he sucked it up and silently trudged behind the woman, pouting the entire time. At least he can put his weapons to use by cleaning up another mercenary gang off this shit hole of station. Making sure that his weapons were ready on the way, he decided to make small talk with Tulma, mainly because he's bored.

"I was reading up about the turian facial paintings on the net and what they mean, but wasn't really satisfied by the results that were brought up. Mind telling me about that?" He asked her, causing her to look at him before shrugging.

"Well, the facial paint that you see Garrus and I wearing signifies that we were born on our home world, Palaven. Each turian colony has its own paint, stylized however they want it, that informs other turians about where they came from. Very important to some of the higher-class individuals in our hierarchical social structure, but to most of the lower-class individuals, they don't really mind it. Sure, it's important to our culture, and it's become routine at this point in our lives to repaint it every couple days or three. However, those without the facial paint become social stigmas to our people." She explains, honestly happy to explain a little bit about her people to someone who's willing enough to learn something about them.

Devin nodded at the information that was given to him, but that last bit about social stigmas and no facial paints being bad had him confused.

"Just how bad is it when a turian doesn't wear their paint and what does it mean exactly? I read on the net that it means they're untrustworthy or something, even though this Saren Arterius guy had no paint and was treated as if he was a hero of some sort for the longest time. Kinda hypocritical, if you ask me" He points out to her, and after hearing that she couldn't help but agree with the man. He had valid points, after all.

"Well," she starts, thinking about what to say, before continuing, "a turian not having their facial paint signifies that they're untrustworthy and that they need to be watched for anything suspicious that they may be up to, or the fact that they're going against their colony and people by not showing their markings. And, honestly, I thought the same way about Saren, even voiced it to some of my friends and family, and after it came to light that he betrayed the council, you better believe that I rubbed it their faces. Oh spirits, my dad and uncle were pissed at me for weeks. But did I care at all? Not a damn bit." She explains, laughing a bit at a memory replaying in her mind from that time.

Stopping to look at him, Tulma asks him about why he didn't use any of the offensive or defensive powers that are loaded onto his omni-tool, when they were going up against the Blue Suns.

Shrugging at her question, he told her that he got it from a quarian named Kenn, to which he was grateful for, and is only using it as a temporary place-holder until he gets enough credits to buy a much more sophisticated one. He then told her that his omni-tool is one of the lower-grade civilian ones, one that doesn't have any of those capabilities loaded onto them and for the fact that he doesn't know where to get a high-end tool for those programs to be loaded.

After she was informed about this, she told him that she could try and get Glaz to at least see if he could do something that can help him, at the very least see if he could add the omni-blade function to it.

Accepting her response, Devin shrugged his shoulders, continuing walking beside the woman until they reached the transports where everyone is already loading their supplies, weapons, and other gear that is required for the upcoming mission, while others are loading in them. Needless to say, Devin was upset but at the same time he wasn't. An odd combination of emotions, especially if they contradict each other, if you ask him. Eh, oh well, he's got people to kill and an objective to capture.

Deciding to switch things up, he follows Glaz into the transport this time, wondering how different it'll be with the Russian instead of the others.

The man in question looks up from his omni-tool and grins, deactivating it in the process, and raises his hands, welcoming him into the transport wholeheartedly.

"Welcome my friend, join us on our ride instead of the little дамы (pronounced damy, which means ladies, if I remember my teacher who taught the high school Russian class correctly. It has been nearly three years, so…), we big, strong men! And you, you are bigger AND stronger man!" He laughs, patting him on the side, as he guides him to one of the empty seats meant for Grellik.

Taking the seat, after making sure that it's capable of holding his weight, Devin does his weapon inspection, garnering the attention of the others. Noticing this, he kept thinking about the last time that he did something like this; knowing how Tulma and the others felt about his chainsaw, he wondered if they were going to feel the same way about it.

He was wrong.

"Shit, you planning on using that thing this mission? I can see how it'd be useful, honestly." One of them asked, Mitchell if he remembered, his voice not betraying his curiosity, to which Devin shrugged.

"I might, if the situation calls for it. Don't know how the others will feel about it, though… seeing another guy's insides after having someone saw through it forcefully isn't something for everyone." He warns, knowing how some of the civvies felt after witnessing how gruesome the death is, after seeing some ripped apart by one. Not a pleasant sight to the faint of heart.

Seeing them shrug their shoulders in return, Devin returns his attention back to his weapons and places them back into their respective places. Knowing that with the Eclipse, mechs were going to be in prominent supply, meaning that the real targets were going to be in the back far from the fight. Didn't matter to him though; the mission would be finished, regardless of what obstacles are in the way.

With that in mind, he passed the time by reading more into the Eclipse mercenary group. Finding out that their leader was an asari by the name of Jona Sederis, a ruthless, and partially crazy woman that would kill her own underlings if they got in her way. Needless to say, this bitch needs a bullet between her eyes asap. They evidently provide security services to people who has the credits for their less than stellar practices. Heavy usages of biotics, engineers, mechs, stealth, and technology means that they're going to be a problem for most of people who's on the attacking party.

Looking that the mechs in more detail, Devin couldn't help but shake his head at the FENRIS mech: damn thing was basically a dog in robot form. All it had going for it was a taser-like stun gun, minimal armor plating, and that it'd explode upon being destroyed. Meaning a few bullets are all it would take to take it out.

Moving on from them, he looked up the next mech in question: the LOKI mech. The thing looked human enough, with the stature and structural design, but it could utilize both lethal and non-lethal weapons, from pistols to sub-machine guns. They can also issue commands to other mechs in the general vicinity. Given with this setup, it isn't a surprise to him that these things are a bit more armored than the previous mech, but not too much to where it won't have the maneuverability that its size would offer. Given with all he had read, Devin would consider this one more of a threat than the dog mech, but not much higher. A headshot would still destroy the processors inside, taking it out of commission permanently.

And now onto the last, but most dangerous mech of the three; the YMIR. He already had a close encounter with one, and he didn't like it one bit. Damn things have a twin barreled cannon in their right arm and a missile launcher in their left. Heavily armored and heavily shielded, it's no wonder why these things are lumbering giants. With that said, said they appear to always try and advance on their targets, but are susceptible steps and high places (of all things), and the best way to deal with them are generally the use of heavy weaponry and explosives. There doesn't appear to be any more offensive and defensive capabilities to these things, but they're still the largest problem and the most dangerous one if deployed on a battlefield. Needless to say, target these things first, then worry about the others later.

They employ humans, asari, and salarians within their ranks. The asari, since they're natural biotics, are the main biotic forces for them (obviously) and are assigned the roles of vanguards, adepts, and few sentinels. The salarians handle the technical side of the spectrum, handling the engineer and infiltration roles for the group. Humans, on the other hand, can be assigned any role within, given that they can be a biotic, or just have experience in any of the listed fields. All in all, much more diverse than their Blue Suns counterpart.

With all the gathered information, it's plain that this fight is going to be a bit more of a challenge than the last one.

'_But what's that saying? Nothing ventured, nothing gained? No. The harder the challenge, the greater the reward? Nah, that's stupid. Ah it's, 'fuck it, let's do this.' That's the one.'_ Devin thought to himself, proud to remember the saying that went with the situation.

Feeling like he's forgetting something, Devin shrugs the feeling and thought off, figuring that he'll deal with it when it came to light. He leans back against the wall of the transport, waiting for the next twenty minutes to pass by so that he could begin the mission already. About five minutes into doing this, his omni-tool chimes and a song begins to play, a drum roll and guitars being heard alongside with people shouting _'Hey!'_. Looking down at it with a confused expression, he mouths something to himself before he remembers that he was downloading some music and had it set to play once it was finished.

"Wait, wait, wait! Before you pause that, can you please tell me what song that is, I've been looking all over the extranet for it!" Mitchell asks him, a hunger for knowledge prevalent on his unmasked face.

Looking down at the omni-tool, Devin looks at the song title and band before saying, "Man of War, by Sabaton. I thought it had a nice style to it. Where I'm from, we didn't have any of this stuff in our music, so it's all pretty neat and new to me." He finishes, explaining his reasons for downloading the song.

**(A/N: I**** do recommend listening to the song, if you're a fan of metal)**

Hearing this, Mitchell laughs, looking at Devin with a grin, "Well, I'll tell you this right now; you've got great tastes in music. The late 20th and early 21st century style was a god send in the metal and rock industries."

With that being said, Devin nodded in agreement, given that his humanity had only the standard types of instruments that this universe had had since the 1800s, this universe also had some pretty cool and high-tech instruments as well, like a guitar and a keyboard. If his people hadn't been at war for nearly eighty years, maybe they'd have those instruments as well… maybe. But he'd take a chainsaw gun over a guitar any day of the week.

* * *

Without realizing that he'd been daydreaming for the remainder of the time, the transport comes to a stop, as everyone begins to step off and head to the rendezvous point to get a briefing for the mission. Realizing this, Devin gets his ass in gear and follows everyone, waiting just like them to hear what Garrus had to say.

Stepping in front of everyone, Garrus clears his throat, looking at the assembled men and women, before beginning.

"Listen everyone, this mission isn't like the others, the espionage, covert ops, asset denial, or even capturing the objective. This mission here is strictly a search and destroy mission. There's a high-value target inside one of the transports, a salarian by the name of Garlan, he's the brother of Jaroth, the leader for the Eclipse group based here on Omega. Take him out, and take as many others out as possible. They'll be moving through this area any minute now with transports, but be advised that there is an Eclipse stronghold a couple hundred meters away from here. Expect reinforcements at any time. Any questions?" He asks everyone, finishing the debrief as he takes a look at everyone waiting for further orders.

Seeing Devin with his hand raised, he points at him asking what does he want to know.

"How exactly are we going to get them out of the air and on the ground?"

Seeing where he's going with that statement, Garrus tells him that Sidonis and a few others set up miniature SAM sites and that a couple of them stayed behind them to manually trigger them.

Devin nodded at that, now noticing that Jennifer, Jathor, and Sidonis aren't with the rest of them. But before Garrus could continue, he had one more question to ask.

"How would you feel about me using my… equipment to their fullest abilities and about battlefield executions? If this is a search and destroy op, then does that also mean a _'any means necessary'_ approach to this?" He asks, because not sawing anyone or stomping their skulls in lately feels off to him, considering that his world was full of these things happening on an hourly basis.

Stopping for a moment to think about his reasoning, Devin ponders about what he just thought, silently saying, _"I really am a sociopath, aren't I?"_

Looking up at Garrus, he can tell that the man is conflicted. And he has every right to be, but considering that this mission is purely to take out as many people as humanly possible, it'd make sense why he'd ask that.

Hearing him sigh, Garrus looks at him and tells him that if the situation calls for it, then yes, go for it, but to try not to use the chainsaw.

With all questions finished, answered, and/or unspoken, the time for the mission to start has arrived; about a city block away, the transport makes its way towards them, unaware that they're heading straight into a trap. And as the convoy of eight transports gets into full view, Jennifer, Jathor, and Sidonis activates the SAM sites, sending miniature missiles streaking towards the vehicles, taking them out of commission and sending them straight to the ground floor.

Taking this as a chance to get closer to deal some significant damage, Devin roadie runs to the lead vehicle, grabbing his gnasher from his magnetic plate and takes aim at a human stepping out of the back stumbling and confused, before sending his ass to hell via shotgun shell from ten feet away. After hearing this, everyone else hops up from their cover, laying down fire towards the vehicles as the Eclipse agents. But this works both ways as well; the Eclipse, quickly gaining their bearings, begins to mount a counter-offensive.

Punching an asari in the face, Devin take his knife out and rams it as far as he could get it into her chest, before taking it out and spinning around her and putting his gnasher back on its plate, he grabs his boltok and keeps ahold of the now dead asari by her upper chest, as he uses the dead body as a meat shield as he begins firing at the five other mercenaries who exited the downed vehicle and took cover being it.

"FUCKING HELL, HE'S USING HER AS A DAMN MEAT SHIELD!" One them shouts, as they begin firing his arm and feet to drop her. Unfortunately for them, it doesn't work, as Devin merely slaps a proximity mine that he 'borrowed' from Mirand, the salarian explosives specialist, to the back of the dead asari's head and kick it towards them, watching them jump away from cover as it blows up, killing one and injuring another unfortunate merc.

Sliding into cover, Devin reloads his magnum and puts it back into his holster, grabbing his lancer and put four rounds into the downed bastard, putting him out of his misery, before shooting at the rest of the mercs who had recently left their cover in favor of joining the survivors of the other vehicles. At this point in time, five minutes have passed, with ten dead eclipse, and a few more injured. While, a few of his side were injured, and none dead.

Hearing the distinct crack of two sniper rifles, Devin looks up and sees Glaz and Garrus firing into the huddled up mercs, both acting as each other's spotter and shooters.

"Onyx, this is Archangel, we seen what you did from up here and I've got to say, that was an interesting way of using a proximity mine, however I wish I didn't have to see what had happened before or after said usage. Try to keep the overly grotesque and gory kills down a bit, will you? I think I heard May throwing up from watching what you did there." He radios the man, using their callsigns in case if anyone's listening in on their conversation.

"Yeah, yeah, I hear you."

And with that, he continues shooting at the mercs. However, he has to jump from cover and move his ass back to keep it from being shot to hell and back and blown up, because it appears to him that the reinforcements that Garrus had warned them about has finally shown up. And with them, a dozen LOKI mechs, about six FENRIS dog mechs, and finally one YMIR mech. Great, he's going to have to saw that one down to size too.

Getting a shock from the leg, Devin looks down and sees one of the dogs and does something that still makes Garrus question it to this day. He just straight up fucking kicked the damn thing nearly twenty feet away, and about six feet into the air. Honestly, to him, it made him question a few things. Glaz on the hand…

"HA-HA, THAT WAS AMAZING MY FRIEND!" The Russian bellowed, laughing at what he had seen.

Yeah, Glaz was a polar opposite of what Garrus was, at the moment.

Contacting the demolition crew, Garrus ordered for them to fire their ordinance at the large and lumbering mech, stating that they were going to need it ASAP.

"Roger that, payload is away, danger-close boys, I say again, danger-close." The operator calls out, to which every one of them ducks for cover as explosions ring out throughout the area.

Looking up, Garrus sees that the mech in the general has been decommissioned permanently, and gives out the all clear to the ground team. At this point, most of the eclipse have been dealt with, except a few that ran for their stronghold.

"Onyx that bastard is getting away, get to him at any cost, and I do mean _any_ cost! We need that salarian dead in order for this mission to be considered a success, understood?" He orders the man, watching as he gave a thumbs up in return and begins running to where they're headed.

"What about Tulma or Grellik?" He asks, dodging mass accelerator fire by jumping to and from cover repeatedly.

"Grellik is taking care of the wounded and Tulma took a hit to her leg, but is fine nonetheless. She's pissed about being shot though." He informs him, making Devin laugh and shake his head at her expense.

"She's a big girl, she can walk it off." He responds, shooting a stream of lead downrange towards the mercs, taking a few of them out before having to reload.

Hearing a new comms line open up, he hears the woman in question.

"Hey Devin, eat a _kryshka_." She tells him, through a strained voice, to which Garrus laughs.

"Sorry ma'am, but the only things I eat are meat and pussy, anything else are for bitches and rabbits." He retorts, hearing her stammer and Glaz laugh even harder in the background.

"Besides, what the fuck is a _kryshka_?" He asks, already thinking about a certain human word that means-

"Turian slang meaning dick in the human languages." Garrus helpfully responds, making Devin roll his eyes.

"Figured as much."

* * *

Mantling over a barricade, Devin stabs a human through the head, killing her instantly, before switching to his gnasher and firing it into the others, taking them down as well, noticing that his shields have just now depleted, he jumps back into cover and waits for them to recharge, something that still confuses him to this day. Given how he had went his entire military career without a shield system, it's easy to forget about it until you hear a miniature siren blaring into his ears. If only there was a way for him to change to noise into something that won't give you tinnitus for the rest of your life…

Coming up to a sealed door, after introducing the last few mercs to Mr. gnasher, Devin reloads it and puts it back onto the plate, swapping it out for his lancer. This door doesn't look electronic, given with how it has hinges, he shrugs and revs the chainsaw, bringing it up to the top hinge and begins sawing through it, with surprisingly decent success. It took about thirty seconds to chew through it, and he has two more to go through before he gets through all three of them.

Popping his neck, he gets right to it, silently praying that the schematics he's downloaded from the secret lab had a Jack unit that would make this pass by easier.

Finishing this process, he inspected the teeth on the chainsaw and seen that they would need to be sharpened after the mission, but they surprisingly held together very well; besides a few bent teeth, quite a bit of them dulled, and just plain awful looking. They at least look like they're still able to do their job, so that's a plus. Gotta love the resources and materials that the Onyx Guards had put into their equipment, because he's for sure that the standard issue lancers would've broken or fallen off completely if they had gone through those hinges.

Needless to say, he put his weapons on his back and picked a fairly decent sized grenade launcher off the ground near a dead merc and took aim; firing three explosives at the door and grinning when he seen it falls to the ground.

Popping his neck, he throws the now useless grenade launcher to the ground and charges through the hole, guns blazing as he begins aiming at those who were behind it. He has one thought on his mind; kill the target and anyone who stands in between him and his mission.

Needless to say, his enemies are fucked.

Diving behind a pillar and using it as standing cover, he reloads his lancer and pulls out a smoke grenade, and prepares to throw it. Looking at the thing, he couldn't help but compare it to the smoke grenades from back home: this one was a small cylindrical shaped thing that fit into the palm of his armored hand relatively nicely, but couldn't be thrown as far. While his home's version was a bolo grenade that could be thrown several dozen yards, easily, however their size meant that they could only carry roughly four of them, at any given time.

Priming the grenade, Devin throws it a few dozen feet, satisfied that it landed in the bulk of the mercs that decided to cluster themselves together. As it went off, that's when he decided to charge; crossing the thirty meters in seconds and jumped up at the railing that was almost ten feet off the ground, grabbing onto it and hauled himself up.

Holstering his lancer to conserve a bit of ammo, he grabs his gnasher and begins firing it at them, catching them off guard as the shells begin spewing lead pellets at them, effectively mulching their insides as the composite armor and shields only stopped the first shell's contents, but not the second's or the third's.

Curb stomping a downed salarian, Devin is met with his first taste of biotics being used against him, in the form of a throw from an asari glowing blue, with a very pissed off look covering her face.

"You… you killed all of my men and women… you bastard!" She growls out, preparing to throw more biotics at the human standing before her.

Devin merely shook his head as he stood up, picking his gnasher up from the ground and holstering it as he grabbed his knife and twirled it between his fingers.

"Tell you what ma'am, I have a target to get to and you're in the way. If you turn and leave right now, I won't kill you. However," he stops as his eyes bore directly into hers, "if you don't, then I'll have to kill you. What's it going to be, _sweetheart_?"

The woman growls at him, biotics flaring with more intensity than before.

"After I kill you, I'm coming for your family, and what I'll do to them is going to be far worse than what I'm going to do to you. I think I'll start with your youngest sibling, maybe child, and laugh as I tear them apart. Bit. By bloody. Bit."

And that was when her first and last mistake regarding Devin's family came to a screeching halt.

With how tense he clenched his fist, the asari could hear the armored gauntlet groan, and his knuckles pop. And with one last look at the asari, Devin merely said one sentence.

"NO ONE threatens Benjamin, you bitch."

And before she could throw another biotic attack, he charged her, covering the twenty feet that separated them in a little over a second, with his fist poised to hit her straight in the throat.

She dodges the hit at the last possible moment, throwing a shockwave at the man, but all that did was push him back a step, before regaining his composure and charging her once again. This time she uses a lift attack on him, lifting him about a foot or two off the ground before throwing him back down. All that did was piss him off even more.

Seeing that he wasn't going down any time soon, she begins shooting at him with both her heavy pistol and submachine gun, breaking his barriers but not penetrating the armor that lies beneath the shield. Throwing a warp at the now shieldless human, she wasn't expecting him to throw a discarded avenger rifle right at it, absorbing the warp in its entirety, grab it while it was in midair, and use it like a melee weapon against her face.

The resulting action caused the molecular destabilized rifle to fragment and shatter against her head, definitely breaking a few bones in the process.

Watching her crumple to the ground, Devin takes his knife and flips her over with his boot, then stabs downwards at her chest, right where her heart would be.

Catching the knife at the last second, she fights through the pain and uses her biotics to help with pushing the knife back away from her. But in a split second after doing this, an ice-cold feeling and the sound of bones snapping and armor twisting brought her to a screeching halt, both metaphorically and physically.

Looking down at both of arms, she seen that both of them were snapped at the forearm, bending in ways and contorted to such a degree that it shouldn't be possible. Screaming in absolute agony, she takes one look at the human standing above her as he jams his knife straight into her heart. Gurgling the blood that now fills her throat, her last thoughts before her goddess Athame took her to the afterlife were about her accepting his offer. Then everything she knew fades to black.

Pulling his knife out of the now dead asari, he wipes it clean and slides it back into its sheathe, equipping his lancer and continuing on with his mission.

* * *

Several rooms pass by, several dead bodies, and more screams of the dead later, he arrives at the main office, no doubt within his mind that Garlan is behind these doors with mechs and more soldiers waiting within. Well, he isn't one to disappoint people, so with that in mind he uses a one-time hacking program that Jathor loaded onto his omni-tool just in case a situation like this occurred.

He really needs a better omni-tool.

Waiting for the hack to finish, Devin grabs all of his grenades, three frags and one smoke, and primes them all. And as soon as the door turns green and opens, he tosses all three of them into the room, diving into cover as a hail of bullets fire at where he was not even a second ago. Hearing the grenades go off, he turns the corner with his rifle raised, firing at anything moving inside that the two frags didn't take care of.

Revving his lancer, he saws partway through one of the LOKI mechs and kicks it away from him, watching it explode and send out more shrapnel into the few other mercs and mechs that weren't in cover.

After firing the last of his rounds, the last merc falls to the floor dead, with a sizable hole in her head, Devin grabs the main desk and flips it over, seeing a cowering salarian beneath where it once stood.

Rolling his eyes at the sight, he holsters his lancer, grabs his boltok and fires five rounds into his chest and sending the last one straight through his skull, watching the familiar sight of the entire head popping as the body slumps to the ground.

Holstering his now empty boltok, Devin activates his comms and radios Garrus.

"Hey Archangel, Onyx here, mission is a success, I say again a success."

Garrus answers back immediately, "Can you confirm that the target has been neutralized?"

Taking a blank look at the room littered with dead bodies and back down to the dead salarian, he answers nonchalantly.

"Pretty certain I can confirm that he is indeed neutralized. Any further orders?"

"Meet us back here at the rendezvous point, we'll hitch a ride back to headquarters after everyone gets back."

With that said, Devin turns and makes his way back to the rest of the group, stepping over debris and bodies as he exits to stronghold. Taking a few minutes to relax and relieve stress from simply walking and taking his time to get back to the others. It was times like this in which he could just sit back and relax, metaphorically, and take his time.

* * *

Arriving back at the rendezvous with everyone loading up on the transports, Devin steps up to Garrus and gives him his report, to which Garrus nodded and patted him on the shoulder, only to stop and pull his arm away from him.

"What?" He asks, confused that he would pull away from him like that.

"You're cover in _blood_, a lot of blood. Just what did you do when you were gone?"

"Well I used my knife, shotgun, magnum, rifle, boots and fists to neutralize any hostile in my way. And no, I didn't use my chainsaw on someone… except a mech." He finishes, placating his worries which was successful.

Nodding at his answer, he leads Devin into the transports and takes a seat next to him, smacking the back of the cab, signaling the driver to take off.

Fiddling with his omni-tool, Devin brings up his helmet's video and audio and sends it to Garrus for him to look over and confirm for himself that the mission was indeed successful.

Looking through the footage, Garrus begins to pale (somehow) as he goes through the footage. Stopping at several points in the footage, rewinding it and continue on. He finally stops completely when he seen what he had done to the asari, looking at Devin with some unease creeping into his expression.

"What?"

"You _broke_ both of her arms then _stabbed_ her in the chest, before that you _shattered_ an avenger rifle against her face, and proceeded to take several dozen rounds to the chest after your shields failed…" He trails off, looking back at the footage after he un-paused it.

Watching until he could confirm that Garlan was indeed the cowering salarian, which he was, and that Devin shot him with his magnum, which did exactly what Garrus thought it'd do if someone was shot in the head with it, and finished with him leaving the area, seemingly calmer than before he went in there.

"You brutalized that asari… because of what she said about your family?" He asks incredulously, looking at the man in a new light. A violent, bloody, and wrathful new light.

Devin shrugged at his response, merely stating that no one ever threatens his family like that, especially his youngest brother. The consequences would be dire, and dire they were indeed.

* * *

Taking the rest of the time to lean back and enjoy the silence, Devin actually falls asleep, showing how much he actually enjoyed the silence. Not too often that you get to fall asleep after a mission. It was quite relaxing for him, something that he'll definitely be doing more often, if he gets the chance again.

That feeling is short lived again, seeing as how they arrived back at their base of operations, and everyone began filing out, with Garrus nudging Devin awake by shaking his shoulder.

Standing and popping his back, he grabs his dump pouch and heads across the bridge, one thought filling his mind the entire way: eat, drink, shower, shave, give Glaz his empty mags, and sleep. And truth be told, not necessarily in that order.

Handing Glaz the pouch, Devin tells him that he's going to get some food and take a shower, then possibly get some sleep, and if that anyone of them needs anything just wake him up.

And with that, he heads to the lower levels of the base, intending to finish his goals and getting ready for tomorrow, already hearing the conversation that Garrus is going to give him about dealing with people in close quarters, and about using less than appealing ways to finish a mission. Needless to say, shit that's vastly different than what he's used to doing.

Taking one look at the food awaiting him in the mess hall, Devin has one thought that came to him, and that thought was about Tulma.

"Shit… better go see her before I do anything."

Making his way past his squad members, returning their platitudes and greetings whenever he could, he arrives at Grellik's infirmary, looking at the krogan as he's going through whatever he's looking at on his terminal.

"Hey Grellik, where's Tulma?" He asks him, stopping at the door before entering the room.

Without looking up from his work, he tells him that she's at the far end of the room, behind the privacy cover.

Saying his thanks to the fossil, he heads on in, thoughts going through his mind about why she's behind a privacy cover. Ranging from thoughts about it being because she has her armor off and doesn't have anything on, all the way to her being operated on. He hopes it isn't that one, he doesn't want her getting hurt by any means.

Standing right at the cover, he pulls it back seeing that it was her unarmored and not due to surgery. Sighing in relief, he clears his throat which gains her attention, causing her to pull the covers over her plated chest, making him wonder why she did that.

"D- Devin, what are you doing?" She asks the man, looking at him like he's crazy for just waltzing up to her.

Scratching the back of his neck, he takes his helmet off, looking at her with worry.

"Well, I just wanted to check on you, you know? I heard that you were shot and came by just to see if you were okay and not too injured." He tells her truthfully, watching her eye ridge raise slightly at what he said.

"Well… I'm fine, it was just a flesh wound that Grellik had to patch up. Couldn't get it done without me having to remove my armor, so I did. That's why the cover is up, and… then you come up and casually pull it aside. Generally, when a male does that to a female in the buff… well I don't have to say the rest, do I?" She asks the now embarrassed human, watching him stammer as he fights his emotions to make a witty retort.

All that he could retort with was:

"But you don't have _tits_! At least, I don't think turian women has them…" He tells her, now wondering if this would get him in trouble or not. Maybe he should've told her that he was here before pulling the cover back.

Dropping her cover, she shows him that turian women indeed do _not_ have breasts, but softer and smaller breast plates that adorn their torso.

"No, no we do not. But it is still considered rude to just barge in without telling us." She lightly scolds, making a playful jab at the man as he takes a seat at the foot of the cot by pulling a chair from the wall.

"Eh, true enough. But quick question. Do you even have underwear on or…?" He asks, leaving the question unanswered, considering how he hasn't seen a single turian wearing what resembled anything like clothing that civilians would wear.

Looking at him with an amused expression, she tells him that she is in fact not wearing underwear, and that she is indeed naked beneath the blanket. Grabbing the blanket by the sides, she asks him if he was going to eat what was beneath it, given how he said that he ate only two types of meat.

The blush that she got from doing that made it worth it; she was laughing at how she got him with her joke and how badly it got him to stammer. After failing to control himself, he merely groans into the palm of his hands, shaking his head in defeat at the woman who bested him.

"I say one thing… and this is how it backfires against me…"

Pulling the blanket aside, she shows the bandages that covers her left thigh, showing him exactly what happened to her. Noticing his expression change from flustered to worry in an instant made her regret not trusting him in the beginning. Seeing him swap emotions like that in an instant showed that he truly did care for his team and his friends.

"Are you okay, that doesn't look good, you know?" He tells her, both making it a statement and a question. From the size of the bandages and the amount of blue blood that's dried on it, it had to have been bad.

"One of the Eclipse infiltrators got the drop on me with a scimitar shotgun. My shield stopped most of the rounds, but it didn't stop all of them. And yes, I'm fine. I promise you, okay?" She finishes, looking into his eyes as she said this, seeing the internal struggle that he's dealing with.

"Had I known that it was a shotgun that did this, I would've kept my mouth shut and came back to help you all while Garrus and a few others went in and dealt with the target. I… I didn't know."

"Hey it's okay, this isn't the first time I've been shot and it won't be the last, besides, I've got Garrus, Sidonis, Glaz, Grellik, and you watching my back. If I had to be honest with myself, I regret… I regret not trusting you when we first met. I didn't know if you were an informant planted by Aria just to get close to us and see what we're up to, or from one of the mercenary groups here on Omega. Add in the fact that you knew that I was following you when we first met, and the scuffle we had, I thought I was justified in my thought processes. But… I'm glad that I was wrong about you. You didn't deserve my mistrust, and for that I apologize. I hope that you can forgive me." She finishes her explaining her hidden motives, looking down at the bed in guilt at her actions.

Standing up and walking next to her, he lays his hand on her shoulder, causing her to look up at him. Seeing that he wasn't upset at her, it shocked her that he actually had a soft smile on his face.

"Hey it's okay, you had every right to be suspicious of me and that I understand completely. I'm not mad at you, I'm actually happy that you felt that you trusted me enough to tell me the truth. Besides, I would've done the same thing, if I were in your place. And yes, I forgive you." He consoles, telling her the truth and happy that she came out to him about how she really felt.

Seeing the turian equivalent of a smile on her face, both mandibles lifted and held against the cheeks, he knew that he done the right thing about coming and seeing her.

With that on his mind, he asks her if anyone else had came and seen how she was doing. Hearing her say that Garrus came by to she if she was alright and that Glaz stopped by for a minute made him feel a little better that at least a couple of people came to see her, and a bit upset that they didn't stay nearly as long as he had. But they do have their own things to tend to, and as upset as it might make some people, they'll have to get over it.

Standing up to take his leave, he is stopped by Tulma telling him to wait a minute.

"Yes?"

"You said that you didn't know if turian women had breasts, and honestly that should be obvious to you that we don't. And that got me thinking about something: you've never been curious about what another species looks like naked, have you?"

That made him stop dead in his tracks.

"Well… yeah, I suppose. Though I have to ask why do you want to know?"

"Well," she starts, rubbing her arm as she begins to feel awkward for bringing it up in the first place, "why didn't you search it up on the extranet then, why not look up some porn and find out for yourself?"

And that brought his mind to a screeching halt; hearing one of his friends, his _female_ friend, his _turian female_ friend ask him that made his mind stop functioning entirely.

After staying silent for a strong minute, he quietly says, "Well… I… I guess that it never occurred to me in the first place. Besides, it's somewhat disrespectful. And given with how we had a mission to focus on, I guess that I just didn't have time." He responds, thinking about what she just told him.

Remembering something that he read about turian cabals, Devin asked her if it was true that they were all really biotic, because he's never really seen or heard of a turian biotic before.

Sighing at the question, Tulma answers him with a yes, that all cabals are biotics, and that she is indeed one too.

"Being a cabal is basically the end of any type of military career: you get sent off doing medical work, maintenance work, and other mundane tasks that no one wants to do for a career. Spirits, most of those jobs are better suited for the civilian populace regardless. Then throw in the fact that the hierarchy has a severe distrust for any turian biotic, that basically marks the death of your career right then and there. Personally, I hate being a biotic, I hate, hate, _hate_ being a damned biotic. That's why I practically never, if rarely, ever use them to begin with." She explains, looking down at the sheets in resentment at what she is.

"Hey, don't be hard on yourself, if it makes you feel any better, I think you're an amazing soldier, a hell of a friend, and even a biotic, even if you don't think so for yourself and even though I've never seen you use biotics before. Keep your chin up, things will get better, okay?"

"Okay Devin, thank you for that, I needed to hear that. Now move along, I'll be fine from here."

Seeing him accept her answer as he stands up, she nods as she lies back down on the cot, pulling the blanket up to her neck as she settles in.

"Thanks for coming by and chatting with me Devin, I had fun talking to you." She tells him, smiling at him as he turns to look at her.

"Hey, me too. Get some rest okay? I don't want you to see you skipping out on your body having a chance to heal properly because you don't want to." He tells her, making her laugh as he begins to close the privacy cover.

"Night Devin."

"Night Tulma"

Devin went back to his bed and took his gear off, storing it in his wall locker and taking one look at his family picture, smiling at it as tears threaten to leak from his eyes.

"I love you all and I miss you all so very much… I'm sorry that I'll never see you all again. I love you all, and goodnight." He tells the picture, grabbing it and planting a kiss on it before setting it back down, closing the locker door, and lies down on his bed. A sad smile adorned on his face as he closes his eyes, memories of home flooding his mind, as sleep takes him in its sweet embrace.


	5. Breaking a Bond of Blood

**Thank you Archangel for telling me how I could make the chapter better! I was honestly looking for an excuse to make it longer, and it just so happened that you provided that excuse! Thanks again for your constructive criticism!**

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**Since last update there has been nearly a couple hundred extra views, three more reviews, five follows, and three favorites! Thank you all so very much, I appreciate everything that you all have given me, and I hope to continue to post chapters that you all enjoy! And this chapter has our main character going up against the Blood Pack, so varren (though not much), vorcha, and krogan are to be expected; and as an added bonus (or should I say the complete opposite) there are going to be casualties in this chapter. You'll see.**

**Review time:**

**Blaze: Honestly, that wasn't my intention, but reading the scene after you pointed that out made me laugh. Now I see what you meant. And shame? Me? I have no shame, therefore I am prone to doing stuff like this. *Evil laughter***

**Peanutbutter: Thank you! I appreciate the review and your enjoyment, so here's another chapter for you to read!**

**Archangel: Your review was the best one I have seen and read. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. I'm glad that you enjoy reading my story and hope that you'll enjoy this one as much as the others! And besides, when you and your friends have been talking about doing stuff for a long while, you tend to have a bit of an imagination as to where you want a thought, or in this case a story, to go. And to answer your question, yes; Devin and Tulma are the paired characters.**

**Last note before the disclaimer: When writing this chapter, I thought the Blood Pack were called the Blood Pact, therefore the chapter was originally going to be called _Breaking an Oath of Blood_, due to a blood oath being a pact between two parties. Man, I was disappointed when I seen the mistake, so a pack and a bond are somewhat similar enough that I decided to use bond in its place. That and the alliteration works. So, win-win. Leave a review, favorite, or a follow at your own free will: they are very much appreciated and they make my day, but doing that is entirely up to you.**

**Disclaimer: I own neither game franchises, only whatever characters and/or details that I add in.**

* * *

**Chapter Five: Breaking a Bond of Blood**

To say Devin was mad would be an understatement; he was absolutely livid at what had just unfolded before his eyes: one of his friends had been killed by a krogan that he didn't see.

He was responsible for her death. She was gunned down when he wasn't paying attention. She should be alive, but she wasn't; he was to blame. He would make sure to avenge her.

With a scream of anger, pain, and even loss, he charges the krogan in front of him, lancer raised as it activates the bayonet with the sole purpose of mutilating anything it comes into contact with. This one would be no different.

Ducking beneath the swing that the lumbering giant threw was easy, and with that out of the way, he proceeded to saw the leg off right at where the knee would be located, and then decided that it wasn't enough.

Grabbing the now screaming krogan by his head crest, Devin began to pull…

* * *

"So… mind telling me why we're up here again?" Devin asks Garrus, looking at the turian with scrutiny as he narrows his eyes in suspicion.

It had been a week since he had killed that salarian, and with nothing to do since then, Devin had decided to waste the time by going to the shooting range, the physical training area, and even staying in is bed playing games.

Garrus had dragged him away from his game of something called minesweeper, a fascinating game that he discovered after he finally conquered solitaire, afterwards he went to the settings and deleted it permanently, only to take a screenshot to prove that he won it after two weeks of bullshit.

Making sure that no one else was around to hear what he had to say, Garrus motions for him to move closer, lowering his voice and sub-harmonics (something that Devin had recently learned about but didn't get too into, learning facial features were hard enough) to get the point across.

"I need you to be honest with me, okay? I trust you enough to tell you this to your face, and I trust your judgement. I need you to promise me that you'll use your… chainsaw bayonet for the next mission. The one that we'll be going on to take on the Blood Pack. I know what I'm asking you, but krogan and vorcha have an ability called blood rage that makes them ignore pain and dish out even more damage than before. On top of that, they too possess a healing factor that is on par with yours. You can see why that is a problem for us, can you? You and Grellik are the only ones who can stand up to krogan in a one on one fight and have an equal chance of walking away alive." He tells the man in front of him, hoping that he got his point across to him.

Devin processed the information given to him, knowing and understanding exactly what Garrus had meant. Considering what he had asked, he wasn't too surprised about the fact that they'll need heavy weapons to take them down, and given their regeneration, they'd have to do it quick before they can heal. But throw the chainsaw into the mix, not even the strongest healing factors would be able to stop it. And seeing as how most krogan are only a little bit taller than him, it wouldn't surprise him if they were as strong, if not stronger, than him.

Nodding at the conclusion he came to, Devin told Garrus that he'll use it, but only as a last resort. He didn't want to be the center of attention for everyone present, and that sending guts everywhere on a battlefield was a sure-fire way of doing exactly that.

"Thanks, I know it's a lot to ask, but you did tell me that you've used it plenty of time before. With that being said, you're used to the sight, but everyone here isn't. Use your bullets as much as possible, but if the situation calls for it… use the chainsaw."

And with that, both of them walk back across the bridge, headed back to the areas that they could generally be found in.

But it seems as if fate wouldn't be so kind to them today.

Sidonis comes running up to them, panting as he takes a minute to gain control of his labored breaths. Both Garrus and Devin looks at him with slight worry, knowing that whatever made him do this to himself, wasn't good in the slightest.

Steadying the winded turian, Devin looks at him and asks what has happened for him to be like this.

Sidonis looked up at the both of them and said something that gained their immediate attention.

"Blood Pack are attacking people in the lower wards of Gozu District, something about someone or some organization wanting them all gone from there for some business, I don't know. Jennifer, Jathor, and I overheard what's going on through their comms when we were searching for anything of use to us." He explains, finally steadying his breath, looking at the both of them as Garrus and Devin nodded at each other.

Patting Sidonis on the shoulder, Garrus tells him to round up everyone for this, because they're going to need all hands-on deck for this mission.

Nodding his head, he turns to run and gather everyone, all the while cursing under his breath as Devin speaks up.

"Well… shit. Guess I'll be gathering my gear then, you grab everyone else and I'll meet you back here." After finishing the sentence, Devin runs to his locker in record time, grabbing everything from it, securing it to his armor, and runs back, seeing a few other people booking it to the same place he was going.

* * *

Ten minutes of explaining what's happening is all that it took for everyone to understand the situation well enough to know just how bad everything is: Blood Pack mercenaries are attacking innocents, regardless of the fact if they were already relocating or not, and that they are to hold them off long enough to ensure that they get as many as they can possibly get.

The entire ride was silent, save for the hum of the engines as they're being pushed passed their limits, as everyone is checking their weapons, armor, shields, and various other pieces of equipment. They knew that they were definitely going to take some casualties, maybe even fatalities, while battling these mercs, but that's what they all agreed to. They're all here to give their lives to protect those who needs it the most.

Rolling his shoulders and twisting his back, Devin feels satisfaction from the popping that emanated from each one of them, relieving stress that was building up from being too stiff and upright.

Looking at the occupants of the transport, Devin tells them that he has every intention of using his lancer to its fullest potential, including using the bayonet. Seeing everyone looking at him now, he sees that they each have the same look in their eyes, even Glaz, as they each nod in understanding at what must be done. Giving them a nod in return, he goes back to what he was doing before, passing the remaining ten minutes as he readies everything.

And when the transports land, that's when the doors opened and over a dozen armed and armored individuals stormed out, arriving in the middle of a warzone: bullets flying everywhere, fires burning, rubble, dead bodies, and the overall feeling of being in hell.

Getting his ass in gear, Devin aims his sights down towards a vorcha carrying a flamethrower within his grasp, shooting a few rounds at the fuel tanks that are on its back, smiling at seeing them explode, taking out the bastard carrying the weapon.

After a minute or two, the Blood Pack seemed to notice that they were receiving more return fire than before, realizing that there were now more people who decided to join the fight. It didn't matter to them; it made the situation more fun than it was before.

Everyone takes cover as they receive a hail of gunfire in return, pulling quite a bit of heat off of the retreating civilians. Knowing that this situation would deteriorate quickly if things weren't handled correctly, a few of them started to gain the attention of the civilians around them, telling them to head for the large transport vans and get out of here.

Devin called out to everyone to see if a few of them would go with them, giving them protection as they ran towards the three vans. And since each one of them could hold approximately twelve people comfortably, they decided to pack in as many of them as they possibly could; fitting nearly eighteen to twenty people on each van, then they would be flown away for about ten minutes and returned in another ten, all in all it'd take around twenty minutes for them to leave and get back.

Standing up and waving for them to follow him, Devin screams, "MOVE IT, MOVE IT! CHILDREN FIRST, TEENAGERS SECOND, AND ADULTS LAST! FIT AS MANY AS YOU CAN AND AS TIGHT AS YOU CAN! GET ON THE FUCKING TRANSPORTS, NOW!"

Doing as instructed, the parents guided their children towards the back of the vans, putting nearly twenty in all of them and closed the doors, people on both sides crying as they were scared of not seeing each other ever again.

Hitting the side of the van, Devin signals it to fly away with its precious cargo, watching a few of the others do the same as those who were left behind were ducking behind pillars, railings, overturned tables and desks, and anything else that could provide cover. Telling them to wait at least fifteen minutes before the transports come back, Devin, Grellik, Glaz, and Tulma all raise their weapons and begin shooting back at the slowly advancing mercs.

Getting hit in the arm, Devin growls as he reloads his lancer and swaps it out for the gnasher, figuring that if medium and long range wouldn't cut it, then close range will. With that in mind, he mantles over his cover and dives towards a pillar, firing the shotgun on both sides as the vorcha, and even a couple of those lizard dogs called varren, begins their advance as cannon fodder. Turning to his right side, he sees a vorcha armed with omni-claws running straight at him with reckless abandon, seemingly intent on killing him.

Dodging the double swipe from it, he rolls to his side and kicks its feet out from under it, making it fall to the ground where it then tries to stand up, only to meet the butt end of Devin's gnasher to the side of its head, completely crushing it and sending blood and brain matter all over the flooring.

Ignoring some of the sounds that a few of the civvies made at the grotesque display, Devin reloads his gnasher and brings out his lancer, readying for the long and daunting task that lies before him and his friends. He only hopes that a miracle would happen to save these people.

* * *

It had been forty minutes of non-stop shooting, having ran out of ammo for his lancer and gnasher, Devin had resorted to using his magnum to shoot at the unarmored vorcha, thinning out their numbers with a couple shots, sometimes with one well-placed headshot, as he reloads it. Counting only twenty-four shots left for the boltok, he empties the cylinder yet again, taking out more four vorcha in the process.

He stops as he hears the sounds of more sky cars arriving, screaming inside his head, he looks towards the source of the noise, seeing more sky cars landing near the extraction zone and takes aim. Stopping himself from pulling the trigger just in time, Devin sees Glaz and Tulma exiting the two newly arrived vehicles, sighing in relief as they began to usher as many as they could into the vehicles and leaving with them. At this rate, they'll have the remainder of the civilians extracted within the next thirty minutes, maybe forty.

Holstering his pistol, Devin grabs a discarded vindicator rifle, grabbing a few thermal clips from the dead krogan and a nearby vorcha and loads them into the heat sink slot. With a new weapon and fresh ammo at hand, he begins firing the burst rifle towards the hostiles, making sure to aim at center mass for most of the targets.

Already not liking the feeling of the rifle, he tosses the thing aside, sprinted his ass all the way to where Garrus is, and slides into the empty cover located on the opposite side of him, seeing Garrus looking at where he came from while he shakes his head.

"What's the matter? Why did you throw that rifle away?" Garrus asks him, loading another shot and firing it, taking down a krogan who's shields were down with a well-placed headshot.

Looking at him with a look that said it all, he responds with, "The damn thing just wasn't hitting hard enough. It worked fine on the vorcha and the varren, but on the krogan? Might as well have been pissing at a wall with the intent of taking it down. And I'm all out of ammo for my rifle and shotgun. I have eighteen shots left for my magnum though, but it'd take nearly an entire cylinder to kill a single krogan. That's why I've been focusing on the little guys while you all were shooting at the others. Besides, how many have we gotten out of here?" He asks, ducking his head as his position gets targeted for a moment to keep it from being hit.

Garrus tosses a frag grenade, waiting for it to go off before he answers his question with a little under 200 people, and with two more evac shuttles, that number will climb up higher.

"We've still got about another 150 or so to evac before we ourselves can leave, spirits dammit; there were nearly 500 people living here last week and now there's over a hundred of them dead. Who would do such a thing and for what purpose?" He asks himself, grabbing his vindicator rifle and firing it at the far side of the area.

Devin shook his head, the situation reminding him of the locusts attacking civilians, just without the want or need for credits, but just because they wanted to. Knowing that at the rate that the situation is going, if they don't finish this within the next hour, things are going to get bad for them and the civvies. He will not allow that to happen.

Looking at Garrus, he says a single sentence, one that spells doom for the enemy.

"Let's do this."

After finishing that sentence, Garrus orders covering fire for Devin, watching as the large human proceeded to use his fists and boots as weapons to crush and beat any vorcha who gets too close to him. Seeing him get right up to a krogan and straight up hits the thing in the face, he sees it reel back from the force and drop his shotgun, which Devin then picked up and fired at point blank into its head, too close for the shields to register the shot and reduce the entirety of its head to a mushy pile of gore.

Seeing all that happen had amazed Garrus, considering the fact that it wasn't every day that you'd see a human do that to a krogan and live to tell the tale.

Falling to the ground behind an overturned table, Devin hisses as he feels his shoulder gets hit, seeing that he took a round right through one of the soft spots of his under armor, right in between the plates. Looking down at where he was hit, he sees that he's bleeding from the wound, but it isn't life threatening; he'd heal in a couple of minutes anyways, so it didn't bother him.

Looking at the shotgun in his hands, he sees that it's one of those eviscerator shotguns, from what he read about them, they had good damage and range, but were somewhat hard to come by. Didn't matter to him, it belonged to him now.

Slapping a fresh thermal clip in the weapon, Devin goes back to shooting at the mercs, watching as a couple of them fall and succumb to their wounds. Seeing that things aren't going to get any better, he finishes shooting his last few thermal clips, and grabs his lancer, pulls the lever back and revs it, waiting for whoever it was that was getting closer to his position, probably realizing that he ran out of ammo.

* * *

Be Grevdan, a krogan mercenary. Things were getting boring earlier in the day, until their boss came into the room and told them all to get their gear together and head out. Evidently, they had been hired to clear a few city blocks worth of people from one of the lower wards in Gozu District, near the district's ventilation system, by some unknown group of interest. They had been paid a lot of credits to get this done, and he does mean _a lot_ of credits; easily enough for everyone to take home over ten thousand a piece. Needless to say, he was up and at it within moments.

Things were going so well too, until that damned vigilante gang showed up and made the job harder. Didn't help that they were all practically armed to the teeth and had extensive training too. And then there was that damned black armored human.

He'll be the first krogan to admit that humans were fucking strange when it came to their actions and the ways they do things: they had the fire that burned within them like krogan do, the military prowess that the turians possessed, the cunning skills of the salarians, and a way with words like the asari. It's almost as if they were the perfect combination of numerous species around the galaxy.

This human was different, however.

He fought with such raw brutality, such wrath, such strength that even without his weapons, he was sure that the human would still be a force to reckon with. It was almost as if Aralakh himself bestowed this human with all the virtues of what makes a krogan, a krogan.

He seen him take hits from weapons that would have killed, or at the very least incapacitate, other humans, brushed it off, and continued to fight. He's also very certain that he has a regenerative healing factor, just like the krogan, and he's nearly eye level with them as well His armor was unlike anything he's ever seen in his long life either; the style, how bulky it was, and the staggering amount of damage that it can take was phenomenal.

Then came his weapons.

He's never seen anything like them: large, bulky, and capable of tearing limbs off. He seen one of his fellow krogans rush to the human, only to be shredded apart by that shotgun of his with three or four shots. Then there's that assault rifle that has some foreign bayonet attached to the bottom that he's never seen before on an assault rifle. He seen five vorcha try the same tactic that his fallen krogan brother tried to do, only to be eviscerated by it as its projectiles mulched their way through their bodies and hit the wall on the far side of the open area. His heavy pistol hits as hard as that spectre weapon, the paladin he thinks it's called, if not harder. It literally kills things with a couple of shots to vorcha and varren, eight or nine at most and that was against krogan.

He turns just in time to see another of his krogan brothers fall to the human, except this time he used the bayonet.

He watched in morbid fascination at the display of the bayonet's brutal power to saw a _krogan_ in half, sending blood, bone, and guts all over the human and fall in two pieces right at his feet.

"I'll be damned… that's a chainsaw…" He muttered to himself, realizing where he seen one those things from an old human film, something called a _"chainsaw massacre"_, he doesn't remember how to pronounce the beginning part, but he knows that it's one of his favorite films to watch.

Seeing the destructive display of the weapon's capabilities, he decides that it's time that he retires. He's in his mid-800's, and he does want to live to be at least a thousand years old.

With this in mind, he turns around and leaves, not worrying about what's happening behind him in the slightest. Maybe he'll go back to Tuchanka, make things right with his son, and live the rest of his life somewhere calm and peaceful. Maybe even live on a human colony, they're still relatively new and that means some good land for farming and livestock.

Yeah, that sounds like a good idea to him. Maybe he'll go and do just that.

* * *

"Ugh, that was nasty." Devin muttered, looking down at the bisected krogan with distaste. "Even the damn blood shows up worse than the others… what is this shit, fluorescent?"

Seeing that the blood was orange and that it did seem like it was glowing, Devin made a note to wash his armor off thoroughly, he didn't want this stuff to stain on it after all it's been through. Didn't help with the fact that after every mission he needed to repair his armor, all thanks to Glaz and Jathor with helping him getting that accomplished.

Pushing that thought out of his mind, he turns in time to see the five transports return, with Grellik, Sidonis, and Mitchell corralling as many people on them as they can, hitting the sides as they take off, ensuring that another batch of survivors had escaped with their lives intact. Now all that's left is a little over fifty people, and they had about twenty minutes left before they were rescued as well.

With his lancer raised high in the air, revved and ready to taste more blood from its next victim, Devin charges the nearest group, sawing a vorcha right at the waist until its legs and torso were permanently separated, and finishing off another krogan by going straight into his neck, severing his spinal cord, esophagus, and other vital parts located in the neck.

Holstering his lancer, he pulls out his boltok and fires at a krogan, all six shots hitting their target with deadly efficiency, as the shields and armor stopped the first four, but not the last two. While in the middle of reloading, he looks up in time to see something that made his blood run cold: a krogan in heavy-duty armor standing over a dead human woman, a child crying at the loss of his mother, and the krogan aiming at the child, ready to kill him in cold blood.

And he pulled the trigger.

* * *

Varnak stood above the human with a sneer on his face; one of the vigilantes had dived in front of the whelp just in time to take the shot for him, killing her instead. Eh whatever, one less nuisance to worry about.

Putting another thermal clip in his shotgun, he stopped as he heard a scream. Not just any scream, it was a roar. A war cry, a sound so primal, with so much rage held within it, that it made him look to the source of it: a human.

Granted, it was that large, black armored one, but he was still a human. Probably killed his mate, he doesn't care though, he'll kill him too.

Watching the human raise the chainsaw rifle into the air, he charged him, with the intent to saw him in half as he did a few others. Looking around, it appears that the fighting has stopped in favor of everyone now spectating what will happen.

He has a human to kill, and after he has everyone else to kill. And to add insult to injury, he throws his weapon down, wanting to fight this human with his fists.

He didn't realize just how wrong he was and why he shouldn't have done that…

* * *

To say Devin was mad would be an understatement; he was absolutely livid at what had just unfolded before his eyes: one of his friends had been killed by a krogan, one that he didn't see.

He was responsible for her death. She was gunned down when he wasn't paying attention. She should be alive, but she wasn't; he was to blame. He would make sure to avenge her death.

With a scream of anger, pain, and even loss, he charges the krogan in front of him, lancer raised as it activates the bayonet with the sole purpose of mutilating anything it comes into contact with. This one would be no different.

Ducking beneath the swing that the lumbering giant threw was easy, and with that out of the way, he proceeded to saw the leg off right at where the knee would be located, and then decided that it wasn't enough.

Grabbing the now screaming krogan by his head crest, Devin began to pull at it and with a sickening break, it comes clean off. Looking at the now exposed flesh and blood with pure malice, he grabbed the plate and proceeded to bash the exposed flesh with it repeatedly, feeling rage at the sounds of the screams doubling in intensity.

The krogan begged for mercy, but Devin didn't listen to anything it had to say. To him, it was needless noise, and the only noise that should be coming from it should be screams of agony.

He didn't know how long he sat there, bashing the now dead krogan in whatever was left of its head, it was all caved in. The head crest had shattered minutes ago, so he resorted to ripping and tearing whatever his hands could get a hold of, then proceeded to beat it even more. He had to be dragged off of the corpse by Grellik, Sidonis, Jaroth, and Garrus from how much he was fighting against them to continue to pummel the corpse.

Taking the helmet off his head, Grellik headbutted Devin, forcing him to snap back to reality as he looked around with a bloodied nose.

"She's dead, there's nothing that you can do anymore, okay? She's dead. Jennifer. Is. Dead." He tells him, looking at Devin with sympathy as he understood why he did what he did.

"Jennifer… Jennifer… how did I not see their leader? I could've killed him and she'd be alive."

Garrus stops him as he puts his talons on his shoulder, consoling him as he stepped into his line of sight.

"I'm sorry Devin, but Grellik is right; she's dead. She gave her life to save that child because she couldn't save her own. We all knew the risks when we came here, and it's an amazing feeling knowing that everyone came home after a mission. But that's the ideal world; this isn't the ideal world. Someone was bound to be killed in the line of duty, it happens to soldiers all the time. We both know that. I know it hurts to lose a friend; I watched my best friend die before my own eyes as he was sucked out of a hole into space with a ruptured suit. It hurts, I blamed myself too, I was thinking the exact same things that are going through your head right now. But we can't let this break us apart. We have to continue, for each other, for our families, for ourselves, for our future, and most importantly, for those we lost." He tells the man, consoling him and himself at the loss of one of their friends.

Nodding at what he said, Devin takes one last look at Jennifer's corpse, seeing the dead woman with most of her insides able to be seen through her back from the point plank shotgun blast and the blood pouring out into a sizable puddle beneath her, and closes his eyes, reaching for his helmet and puts it on. He made her a promise that he would keep as many of his friends alive, even if it kills him in the process.

Pushing everyone away, he notices that there's no more gunfire; evidently the rest of the Blood Pack fled after their leader was killed in one of the worst ways imaginable to a krogan; he had heard Grellik talking about the head crest of a krogan and that if one of them were killed and had it taken off, was a sign of ultimate failure and shame and that any other krogan would generally leave the area if it happened to their leader.

Sitting down at the edge of the railing, he just stays silent as he stares off into the distance.

Hearing a pair of footsteps approaching him, he sees the kid that was saved, along with an older man who must be his father.

The man stopped as the kid kept walking to him, eventually stopping and reaching out to Devin and giving a hug. Stopping for a second, Devin returns it, patting the kid on the back before letting go.

"Thanks kid, I really needed that." He tells him, seeing the kid sniffle a bit as the tears he shed before have stopped.

"I want you to have this," he tells him, reaching out and giving him a small toy, "it's an army man. Every time I feel scared, I always imagine myself as him, fighting the bad guys and saving the universe. Are you an army man?" He asks him, making Devin laugh as he held the toy within his hand.

"Yes… yes I was. I used to be a captain, a long time ago." He answers, thinking about his life on Sera and how it seemed like a lifetime ago that he was there.

Seeing the kid smile, he returns another hug that the boy gave him, and his father merely thanked him and everyone else for trying to save as many people as he could.

After that was said, the last of the transports arrived, and with that, all the remaining civilians were extracted, flown away to wherever it was they took them.

* * *

"What do you even say in situations like this? Did you see what he did to that krogan? He mutilated him!" Sidonis exclaimed to the others gathered outside of the area where everyone slept, looking at them in exasperation.

Garrus had told Tulma and Glaz what happened while they were away for the last time; about how Jennifer was killed, how Devin went berserk, and what he did to the krogan that was responsible for her death. They were stunned, and then the feeling of loss him them; Jennifer was the first person that the four of them had recruited, with her tech skills she gained from her time in the Alliance military, she was a damned good engineer. Hearing that she had been killed hit both of them hard.

"Well… there's not much to say to a man who feels guilt, but what matters is that we be there for him. He may be big and strong, but he is still human. Us being there for him will surely help him." Glaz tells Sidonis, all sense of playfulness gone from his voice.

"You guys go on and take care of everything, I'll go talk to him." Tulma tells them, not waiting for a response as she walks through the doorway.

Seeing the man in question sitting on his bed and out of his armor (except for his boots), with his back turned to her, looking downwards towards something. Making her way to him, she sees that he's looking at a picture, and that catches her interest; not only because it's a picture, but it's one made of paper.

"Hey." She says, sitting down besides the man as he looks over at her.

"Yeah?"

Hearing how monotone he sounded didn't feel right to her; a turian being monotone was a turian who was depressed. She guesses that it must be a trait for humans too… maybe, she doesn't know.

"I'm sorry about Jen, she was a good woman."

Seeing him nod at that, she sighs and leans against him, causing him to look at her.

"Is that your family and is that real paper too?" She asks him, changing the subject to get his mind off of Jennifer.

And it worked.

"Yeah, these two," he points at the older couple, "are my parents. Alan and Kristine Carmine. This is my older brother, Clayton. The one holding the smallest of us is me, the one throwing up the peace sign is Anthony, and finally the one holding onto me is Benjamin." He explains, pointing at each one of them respectively.

"Mind if I hold it?" She asks, taking her gloves off so that she can feel what human paper is like for the first time in several years.

Handing her the photo, Devin couldn't help but smile as she ran her slender talons across it, taking in the feeling of the material as she looks on in appreciation.

"Where are they?"

Looking at the photo, he tells her that they're somewhere that he can never get back to. Wondering what he meant by that, she asks him why he couldn't ever see them again, because she's sure that there's some way for him to see them. Unless… they're dead.

Sighing at the question, Devin tells her that they aren't dead, at least not that he knows of. And with that, he looks at her and asks her if she can keep what he has to say a secret.

"Of course, I trust your judgment. I'll keep whatever you have to say a secret, until you are ready to tell someone else." She promises, looking at him straight in the eyes.

With a heavy breath, Devin looks at her and tells her everything about himself. It was time for him to come clean.

"My name is Devin Carmine, I was born on fifteenth of Bloom, at Tyran Memorial Hospital in Jacinto. On the planet Sera."

"I don't see how-"

"I'm not from this universe."

That got her attention immediately.

"What? Come on Devin, now's not the time to joke around." She tells him, believing that he's pulling another joke on her to lighten the mood.

"I'm not joking. I'm human, but not the type that you're familiar with. As I said, I'm from another universe entirely. We're were in a war called the Pendulum Wars. My people the COG, which is the Coalition of Ordered Governments, had been at war with several nations, the most notable one being the UIR, the Union of Independent Republics, all over the source of a miracle fuel named imulsion. Seventy-nine years. Seventy-nine years of brutal, bloody, unforgiving war; all over a damn parasitic liquid that we use as fuel." He tells her, looking her straight in the eyes as he conveys his point even more through eye contact.

Tulma was shocked at the revelation, merely from being told about the war they had.

"The day I turned seventeen, I walked out of my classroom and enlisted at the recruitment office; it was my civic duty to bring those bastards down for good and I was ready to die for my people and family. After I graduated, I had an hour to spend with my family before I got on a jet and was headed for basic training. Four months, four _grueling_ months I spent in that hell hole, learning how to use the snub pistol, another type of side arm, the lancer assault rifle, not the one I have now but an earlier model with a knife bayonet coated in osmium, and just whatever other rifle that they handed to me. After I was done training, I spent the next year killing those bastards until Professor Fenix, a brilliant scientist, completed the weapon that would change the face of warfare forever: the Hammer of Dawn."

"What... what is the Hammer of Dawn?" She asks him, completely enraptured with his story by now, to the point of almost worrying about if what he's telling her being a very convincing lie, or the unbelievable truth.

She doesn't know which one is more worrying.

"The Hammer of Dawn is an orbital weapons platform that utilizes imulsion that is super-heated and fired from an orbital platform. It required an overhead satellite, clear skies... somewhat, and a laser designator for pinpoint accuracy. It could take out a single tank, all the way up to a large city within a single blast. And it was by far the most powerful weapon ever created by mankind." He answered automatically, almost as if he was reading from a textbook.

"Within the following weeks, the UIR had surrendered to us, seventy nine years of war was finally over; until Emergence Day."

"What's Emergence Day?

Devin gave a hollow chuckle, one devoid of emotion and one that didn't sound right with her at all.

"The day that the locust horde sprang up from the ground and began attacking all of humanity. A little over a month since the Pendulum wars had ended. Locust came up from the ground, killing anything end everything that wasn't a part of them: man, woman, child, the young, the old, the sick, and the healthy were mercilessly slaughtered by them. Clayton and I fought these bastards tooth and nail whenever we could, but they just kept coming; for every one we killed, four would take their place! They just wouldn't stop. Eventually, we had to resort to using a scorched earth policy; utilizing the Hammer of Dawn and destroying the locust..."

When he finished, the gears in Tulma's head started working, extrapolating the details needed to finish what he meant by the last part.

"They didn't..."

Devin's silence is all that answered her question, confirming what she had came up with.

"Spirits.."

"Three days... three days after a year of fighting these monsters, is all that any civilian and military personnel had to evacuate from locust controlled areas to the Jacinto Plateau. Chairman Richard Prescott then ordered the Hammer to be dropped on all locust forces, razing over ninety percent of Sera: billions of humans died, untold number of locusts, mass extinction for numerous plant and animal species, and a resentment from the people who wasn't killed towards the COG. And that didn't stop the locust, it only slowed them down. A few years later, I was at this military base, don't remember where exactly, but we were pinned down by heavy fire. I was going back and forth between the evac choppers and whatever wounded there was. I don't remember how many I saved: ten, twenty, maybe fifty, hell if I know. I was running on so much adrenaline that I didn't realize that I had been shot numerous times by the locust, I must've taken a few dozen rounds, give or take, before I collapsed from blood loss. After I woke up, I was approached by Colonel Thompson, a man that had a small contingent of Onyx Guards with him, maybe four, and he reached out with his hand and shook mine. He then proceeded to inform me that I had rescued his captain, an Onyx Guard, from dying by the hands of the locust, and that he was then informed about me having the Crimson Omen gene. And that estimation I gave you was a lie; there were about 70 to 80 thousand people with it. He then told me that I was selected to go through the Onyx Guard training because of my deeds and my genetics. The proudest and worst day of my life."

When Tulma asked him how that was the proudest and worst day, he responded that he was proud to know that he's doing his family a service by accepting the position, knowing that the government benefits would be a tremendous help to his family, but the worst because he'll never be allowed to see them again, due to his new status.

"Every time I wrote them a letter, I had to hand it over to my commanding officer and he had to read it for himself to ensure that I wasn't going to inform them of anything that they weren't allowed to know, on grounds of execution and dishonorable discharge." He explains, remembering all those letters he sent back home filled with the usual '_I miss you, love you, I'm doing fine and well,_' when he wanted to tell them so much more.

"We don't exist to any official channel, we only answer to the chairman, and a few other officers, alone. There were plenty of times I had to do... some regrettable things that came with the position, some of which would've granted me an express ticket to a firing squad, or a snub pistol with one mag and sent inside locust-controlled areas. Fast forward six years, I was in a city called Ilima, one in which the locust general, General Raam, was spearheading an assault to bathe the city under a cloud of ink so that the kryll, small creatures that would shred any person or animal, even locust they didn't care, to kill off the entire population. I was there to stop him, before being picked up by the thing, thrown through a window, and fell into a basement of some rich bastard's home. While there, I found reports and documents to some teleporter that was being developed by Doctor Maynard inside of a secret lab hidden within the city's library. I made my way there, stopping to group up with another squad of Gears, the name given to our soldiers in the COG military, and aided them with their mission. Afterwards, I split from them and found the lab and the body of the doctor. Before going any further, I downloaded any and all weapons, armor, and a few other schematics that I could from a research terminal, storing them on this data drive here." He tells her, showing her said drive before setting it back down within his locker.

"The teleporter was using this weird, blue element that was undiscovered and the imulsion. I don't know the science behind it, but evidently it worked in a way that teleported my ass here; supposedly that element had to have been eezo. And the rest, you know."

Finishing his long and hefty explanation, Devin takes a deep breath and hangs his head low, expecting Tulma to leave him at any moment.

Not that he'd blame her.

Continuing on from that explanation, he decides to tell exactly what that strange substance was that they had found in his system; he already told her everything about himself, so why not?

"And that is why I'm never going to be able to see them for the rest of my life. I'm not from this universe, and my humanity is very different from this one. That substance that Grellik found in my system is the imulsion. I don't know the side effects of it, except on some of the animals, but I've been keeping an eye on it since I've been here. It's looks to be slowly dissipating, thankfully, I don't want to think about what it'd do to me if I was exposed to it even more than I have already. I even tested out that whole dextro and levo thing. For the past three weeks, I've been eating turian and human food mixed together. Nothing happened to me at all. Hell, I even ate your all's salads for a week straight, _kerim _and _finiks_ are good with a nice_ raysone_ to wash it down, by the way." He tells her, watching her eyes go wide at what he had told her.

Not knowing how to respond to that, she wanted to brush off what he told her, wanting to believe that he was making it up just to get a reaction out of her. But, the more that she thought of what he had told her, the more sense it made. There's no way a human like him should be alive, regardless of the amount of genetic engineering that has to take place in order to achieve what he is capable of. He really is from an alternate universe.

"Wow… just… wow. It makes sense, now that I think about it. But none of that matters now, there's no underground monsters that'll burrow right beneath you, no orbital laser weapons,no threat of execution, and no one who will hurt you. And you have friends here, friends who care about you. So please, don't blame yourself. Jen wouldn't want you to." She tells him, turning his head to make him look at her as she said this.

Closing his eyes, Devin sighs as he nods his head, accepting what she has told him and what she wants him to do. He trusts her, that's why he told her everything about himself.

"Okay. I'll do it for her, and I'll do it for you. And before you leave," he stops, looking at her as he reaches both arms around her and pulls her into a hug, which startles her, but she returns after a moment, "thanks for talking to me. I really needed this." He tells her letting go as he lies down.

Smiling softly at him, she says, "Anytime you need me Devin, I'll be there. Get some rest… you deserve it."

And with that she leaves the room, not realizing that Devin fell asleep almost instantly when his head hit the pillow. All the stress, tension, and worries now off of his chest.

* * *

Meanwhile, Garrus stood at the entrance with Glaz as they both watched from a distance at what happened, but didn't hear what was being said.

"They'll be good couple; I see it now. Little comrades running around, enjoying themselves as their parents chase them. Is good thing. Thing that both of them needs." Glaz tells him, making Garrus raise an eye ridge in response.

"Really? Little comrades?" He asks the Russian, causing the man to laugh as they both began to walk away.

"What, is merely a suggestion. He's big and strong and she quick witted and light on her feet. Besides, having sex with turians hurt, considering talons and skin scraping against each other, and he looks like he can handle the pain, no?" He asks rhetorically, watching as Garrus merely shakes his head and clicks his mandibles in mock annoyance.

"Right, and you're the expert here Glaz. Besides, how do you even know… never mind, I don't want to find out. Knowing you, it'll be something messed up and make me question the things you do even more than I already do."

Hearing that made the Russian laugh, both of them heading to their respective stations to clean up their gear. Never know when they'll have to use it, so it's good to be prepared for anything and everything.

* * *

**A/N: The smallest spark can be the start to the largest fire in your life, and it seems as if a small spark has been lit between Devin and Tulma.**

**That's all for this chapter; thank you all for reading, and I hope you all have a great week! See you all next week for chapter six.**

**One more thing; my friend, whom I consider my brother, is a talented artist and as such, have resorted to a means of extortion, emotional trauma, and violence (not really) to force him to create a cover photo for this story! I hope to show it to you all hopefully by next update, if not then by the following one.**


	6. Betrayal

**Hello Everyone! I hope that you all has had a fantastic week and weekend. Mine was pretty good, besides an argument that took place between my brother and I over something stupid on Saturday, and I had waited for this day to come for weeks now! It's the time for Devin and co to meet their greatest challenge yet: surviving. That's right, this chapter is all about the betrayal of a certain turian that we all know and loathe (maybe idk) and the subsequent attack by all of the merc forces that are on Omega as a whole. And a little added event somewhere in the middle to late stages of the chapter. You'll see.**

**Review Time:**

**Blaze: Now, I did warn you last chapter that I had no shame right? Besides, this chapter has an interesting (or so I hope) scene within it that I'm sure everyone might like. And just like before: I have no shame!**

**ArchAngel: Thank you so much for your review! Personally, I myself loved the criticism that you gave to me, it showed me where I could improve on last chapter between our two favorite characters conversation. As such, I added somewhere close to 1700-2000 words, give or take, to flesh and smooth it out. Without your review, I'd have been lost as to how to make the chapter longer, so thank you very much for giving me the excuse to get off my lazy butt and write that in; I would still, to this day, be trying to figure out on how to make it longer!**

**MythianTech (Not a review, but a PM instead): Thank you for contacting me, I really appreciated what you had to say! And as I stated before: spoilers!**

**And lastly, thank you all who has given their time to read this story, favorite, follow, and review it. It means so much to me to see that you all are taking time out of your day and doing this. It means so much to me. There has been a couple of reviews, a PM, over 300 views(~1600), nearly six follows and favorites (20 and 18 respectively), and a PM! Thank you all so much for bringing this milestone to me! And an update on the cover art: it will be sometime next week before my friend is finished with drawing it; he has a rough draft almost finished, but him fleshing it out will take an additional week, hopefully. Now, onto the story.**

**Disclaimer: I own neither franchises, only whatever characters and/or details that I add in this story.**

* * *

**Chapter Six: Betrayal**

It had been ten days since news of Jennifer's death reached everyone's ears and the day after they came back from Gozu District, they held a memorial service for her. The mood was somber, nearly all who attended was silent as those who spoke about her had their attention.

Whoever was at the front had spoken about her in praise, in remembrance, and some even in anger. But the overall message was understood: they were all grieving.

Devin had spoken only one sentence when it was his turn to take the spotlight; a sentence that stuck with everyone in the room.

"Say not in vain that she is no more, but live in thankfulness of who she was."

With that said, he left the room, not staying to listen to rest of the service, everyone knowing that he still felt guilt over her death. But no one would stop him.

* * *

The following week had been relatively calm for them: no gang activity, no relief assistance, and no intel for them act on. All in all, the ideal setting for everyday life here on Omega.

That put Devin on edge.

This was the crime central of the Terminus, there was always _something_ going on the station that required their attention, and the fact that there wasn't _anything_ going was an omen that bad things were going to come and when it did, it would come in droves and hell would be right with it.

But it wasn't his place to rally everyone and make a call to arms, that was Garrus' job, and the man knew how to do it with a sense of inspiration and authority. Speaking of Garrus, he hasn't seen him all day. When he spoke to Glaz, the man told him that he hasn't seen him at all either and that the only other people that would know of his whereabouts would be Sidonis and Tulma.

Giving the man his thanks, he makes his way to the upper level, knowing that he'd find Tulma there going over any plans and other details for the upcoming week.

Opening the door, he sees the woman in question staring intently at the holo-table, completely immersing herself to the point that she didn't even seem to notice him as he entered the room.

Gaining an evil look in his eyes, he creeps up behind the oblivious woman, making sure to be silent the entire time as he does it, and when he gets right behind her, he quickly thrusts his hands out and into her sides, screaming he does so.

"BOO!"

The response was immediate.

Tulma squawked in surprise, fumbling out of her chair as she activates her nightshade blades instinctively as she darts her head around. She only stops and realizes what happened as she hears and sees Devin laughing his ass off while leaning over the couch and hitting his hand on it.

With her face flushing blue in embarrassment, she lets out a growl of frustration at the man, standing as she wipes herself off after her tumble to the floor.

"That wasn't funny. Not one bit."

Taking his helmet off, he looks at her with a shit-eating grin as he sets it down on the armrest, leaning over the couch as he succeeded in calming himself down.

"That was the best thing ever, I don't know what you're talking about. Besides, aren't adult turians not supposed to squawk like that at all?" He retorts, keeping that same look on his face as Tulma deactivates her blades and crosses her arms at the man.

"Not usually no, but we do it when we're caught off-guard or when we get spooked by something. It seems that a seven-foot-tall human is capable of doing just that. Besides, I almost stabbed you in the neck with my blades." She comments, sitting on the other couch as Devin took a seat as well.

Shrugging his shoulders at her remark, he merely responds that she wouldn't have done anything to him, and that she shouldn't be so engrossed with the schedule.

"Besides, what was I supposed to do? Make my presence known to you and ruin any fun that I could have? Not in a million Seran years." He finishes, propping his armored leg up on his other leg to make himself more comfortable.

It turns out that Sera has longer days, months, and years than this humanity's homeworld does, by 92 days and two hours longer per day. Given how he was 29 back in his universe, in this one he's nearly 39 maybe even 40. But he doesn't go by this universe's rules for his age; if he was 29 leaving home, he is till 29 here. **(I will explain this at the end of the chapter, trust me)**

"Yeah, yeah keep talking. Besides the rather rude entrance, what brings you up here?" She asks him, moving on from the bantering as curiosity makes her wonder why he's here instead of the lower levels.

Shrugging at her question, he tells her that he came up here to see if she knew wherever Garrus was, because he hasn't seen hide nor scale of him since yesterday.

With that in the open, she tells him that early this morning, she seen Sidonis talking to Garrus for a bit and then leave together, faintly hearing something about Blood Pack activity in Kenzo District. She also mentioned that she thought she heard about the Blood Pack leader, Garm, being there but wasn't too sure if she heard it correctly or not.

Devin stopped when she said that, going over everything within his mind only to realize that something wasn't adding up.

"Tulma… why would Sidonis take Garrus, and only Garrus, with him? It'd be more beneficial if he brought you with them too." He tells her, seeing the gears turning in her head as she was caught guard by the question.

"I… I don't know. You're right, that doesn't make sense."

Grabbing his helmet, Devin deftly puts it back on, because his gut is telling him that something bad is going to happen very soon.

"Garrus told me something about Sidonis before we attacked the Blue Suns warehouse a couple of months ago, he told me that he suspects that he's up to something, said he had a feeling that Sidonis was doing things behind closed doors. Tulma… get your gear and weapons ready." He orders her, his voice remaining calm and collected the entire time.

She looks at him in confusion, "Well, he did say that he wants to get out of this… line of… work…" She says, and then after a few seconds it dawns on her that he's onto something.

Nodding wordlessly to him, she jogs out of the room, taking one look back at him and seeing that he's scanning the outside area, seemingly looking for something… or someone.

'_Where are you motherfuckers… I know you're hiding out there somewhere…'_ He says within his mind, activating the thermal optics in his helmet as he scans the environment for an ambush.

Not seeing anything on the optics, he begins to turn around, only to stop as he notices a cold spot surrounded by a warm area. Turning to look back at the spot, he leans closer to inspect it, before his eyes widen in realization.

'_Sniper…'_

With that last thought, he dives for cover right as a round impacts the wall where his head was not a second ago.

Bringing up his omni-tool, he opens a mass group call, contacting everyone within the building and lower levels immediately.

"WE'RE UNDER ATTACK, I SAY AGAIN, WE ARE UNDER ATTACK! THERE ARE SNIPERS ACROSS THE BRIDGE CURRENTLY SHOOTING AT ME AND IF MY EARS ARE CORRECT, SHUTTLES ARE DROPPING HOSTILES AS WELL AT THIS VERY MOMENT; THIS IS NOT A DRILL, I SAY AGAIN THAT THIS. IS. NOT. A. DRILL" He screams into the call, ending it as he grabs his lancer from his back and flips it off safety as he prepares for the oncoming firefight.

Not waiting for the others to get up the main level for their base, he fires at the opposite side of the bridge, seeing what looks to be the mercenaries from the previous operations and even what looks to be some independent mercs thrown into the mix as well. That would be a problem, were it not for the fact that it looks as if they had lower quality weapons and armor. That's a plus, at least.

Killing a few of them that were trying to cross over, Devin hears the sounds of numerous footsteps, the noise thundering throughout the are from the group running to the frontline of the open building, grinning a bit as he sees more mercs fall dead upon the bridge's surface.

"Backup has arrived, Devin." Tulma calls from the comms, to which he responded with more gunfire.

"Tell everyone to hold the line, I'm contacting Garrus; telling him to get his ass back here asap!" He orders the group, hearing various forms of affirmatives coming from below.

Bringing up his omni-tool, he opens the call function and contacts Garrus, but as he was going to contact him, their systems were being jammed by something on the other side of the bridge, evidence to this was a sharp sound of static erupting from his earpiece, causing him to flinch involuntarily. The enemy's side, to be exact. If they are to contact Garrus… he'll need to send someone or two to the other side and destroy it.

He'll need to send two people out to die.

This hit him like a ton of bricks. The revelation dawning upon him as he takes a long look at the battlefield below; if he doesn't do this, they'd have a better chance of surviving, but while putting Garrus in jeopardy, and if he does it, two of his friends will die and Garrus could get back here in time to ensure his survival.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Relaying this information to Tulma via local call (though the static was still there, you could still hear the other person), she comes up with the same idea that he had and chooses the hard option: sending two of their own out for the rest of them to get Garrus back here.

"I'm sorry Devin, but he needs to be here, he'll die if we're not there to cover him and knowing the gangs here, they definitely sent people out to kill him. I'd rather die knowing that we have that jammer put out of order than knowing that it isn't. I talked with the others, Mitchell and Jathor volunteered immediately… I'm sorry." She tells him, knowing how he took Jennifer's death would likely pale in comparison to losing two more people.

"Dammit… god dammit…"

This time however, two more voices joins the call, both of them belonging to Mitchell and Jathor.

"It's okay boss, we knew what could happen when we signed up to do this job. Jathor and I will get to that jammer and I'll cover him as he deactivates it permanently. Right Jath?" He asks the batarian, earning him a resigned chuckle from said individual.

"You know human… Devin, when I die, I hope to the Pillars that at least you are spared, if this fight rages on. You've given me hope for your species and I'm proud to call you my friend. All of you my friends." And with that, both lines disconnect as Devin looks over the railings and sees the both of them diving from cover to cover, avoiding weapon's fire as they get closer and closer to their destination.

"Dammit…" He says solemnly, raising his rifle to provide covering fire so that they could have a higher chance of success.

Seeing a viper rifle pop up right next to him, he turns and sees Glaz nodding at him before he begins shooting at the other snipers as well, his face completely devoid of any positive emotion. His features set in grim realization that they were going to die as well.

"Glaz… kill as many of them as you damn well please."

"With pleasure."

Another minute passes by before their local lines open up, almost completely distorted beyond belief, but enough to understand what was going on.

"_De… co… in, ...re a… the j…m…r. B… a…is… we… pro…ed…g to d…r…y."_

After a few seconds, there was a loud shriek that went through the line, then came a clear voice shouting through the gunfire.

"OBJECTIVE COMPLETE BOSS! DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO NOW AND KILL AS MANY OF THESE-" Mitchell is interrupted as an explosion is heard in the background, debris and a scream being heard as he continues after coughing vigorously.

"Dammit… fuckers… they used a launcher… Jath… he's gone, fuckers killed him. I won't go down without a fight… COME AND GET SOME YOU MOTHERFUCKERS!" He screams as he shoots his rifle before his line cuts out entirely.

Ducking down behind cover, Devin closes his eyes and begins breathing heavily, telling Tulma to contact Garrus as he stands up and runs to the door, making his way to the first floor to get better line of fire at the advancing mercs.

Now he's pissed. And they will pay for it in blood.

* * *

Garrus was running as fast as he can, after showing up to that supposed gun running site that Sidonis was supposed to meet him at only to realize that something wasn't right. However, when he showed up, there was nothing there: no Blood Pack, no guns (besides the ones that the people own), and no Sidonis.

He was making his way back to the hideout when Tulma had contacted him, stating that they were under attack and that two were already dead, Mitchell and Jathor, and that he needed to get back there pronto while avoiding the patrols that the mercenaries will send after him.

And that is what he is doing currently; avoiding any merc that he sees and going as fast as he can to get back to his friends.

Diving behind a dumpster, he looks at a Blue Sun's group standing outside their shuttle, looking as if they're readying up for a fight, possibly headed to his base in Kima District. Not if he has anything to say about it, they won't get there.

Climbing up a maintenance ladder, Garrus takes off his mantis and aims it at the merc leaning against the cab door and shoots him in the head, killing him instantly. Aiming at the next merc who grabbed his rifle and aimed it in the direction the shot came from.

Taking another shot, he sees that the shield breaks, but nonetheless saves his life from the round that would've surely killed him. Quickly loading another thermal clip, Garrus shoots at the merc again, this time with the intended results of the merc dropping dead.

Aiming his rifle at the last merc, he sees that she has her hands raised in surrender, weapon kicked away well out of reach. Climbing down from his perch, he keeps his rifle trained on the woman, wordlessly entering the vehicle as they locked eyes, and closed all doors and starts the engines, before piloting it back to base. Knowing that it'd take him nearly twenty minutes at full speed, he constantly let out a stream of curses the entire ride, hoping that his friends could hold out long enough for him to get back in time to help push back the assault.

He prays to the spirits that they can hold off long enough for him to get there.

* * *

It's been roughly ten minutes since Tulma made the call, ten minutes of utter hell that they had to endure from the constant assault by the advancing forces. They had lost May and Grellik since then, one from being biotically thrown into a wall and shot to death and the other with explosives, leaving the total number of their squad at eight, too little to hope to combat the hundreds that the opposing forces have in stock.

All in all, a total nightmare for them.

For Devin, it was all to familiar for him, similar to what he had to go through back on Sera.

Hearing another scream, he turns and sees the Mirand, the salarian, fall to the ground, holding onto the remaining portion of his left arm. Reaching out to grab him, Devin is too late as a he sees his head jerk sharply to the back as blood pours from the fresh hole that formed from the sniper that took him down.

Cursing loudly, Devin equips his gnasher and begins gunning down anyone close enough on the bridge, reducing the unshielded targets to gory messes and the breaking the shields or barriers of anyone else, leaving them open to rifle fire.

Reloading his gnasher, he grabs a couple of smoke grenades and throws them onto the bridge and switches back to thermal sights to see if anyone of them gets the bright idea to move up and those that did, we subsequently gunned down by his lancer.

"EVERYONE USE THE SMOKE TO GET INTO BETTER POSITIONS AND RELOAD, I'VE ONLY GOT TWO MORE! He orders the remaining members, knowing that he doesn't have to look around to see if they're following it, before grabbing both May's and Mirand's body and carries them up to the top floor in the back room. Saying one last goodbye and apology to their corpses before leaping down from the open balcony and rolling along the floor, dispersing his momentum equally.

"I'll get your body next Grellik, I promise you." He silent tells the corpse, looking at it one last time before hearing the bottom level doors opening.

Turning sharply, he points his boltok at whoever stepped on through, lowering it when he sees Tulma carrying a duffle bag loaded with all of his weapon's ammo and magazines.

"Here, thought you'd might need these." She says nonchalantly after seeing him pointing his magnum at her face, dropping the bag for him to grab its contents.

Holstering his weapon, he says his thanks to her, grabbing as much ammo for his lancer as he could carry, before telling her to go and give thermal clips to everyone else, especially Glaz, because they're running low on them as well.

"One more thing before I go; Garrus contacted me, saying that he'll be here in about ten minutes, give or take, inside of a hijacked Blue Suns shuttle." She informs him, seeing him nod at what she said and loads a fresh magazine into his rifle.

"Good let's-"

He is cut off by multiple explosions racking throughout the area, sending them both to the ground as their ears ring from what happened, though significantly less for Devin than it does for Tulma, thanks to the sound dampeners kicking in.

"What… what happened?" She asks, groaning in slight pain and disorientation as Devin helps her up and steadies her against the wall.

Looking back to the open area, Devin's heart sinks to the bottom of his chest; a gunship is seen flying away and there's at least three more of them dead by its fly-by.

"Glaz… I'm going to get to Glaz, you stay down here and… and help Butler… he's all that remains down here."

Without another word, he turns and leaves her down there, throwing his last two smoke grenades to provide additional cover as he makes his way to the floor once more.

Opening the doors, he sees that Glaz is in fact very much alive, but is currently ducked behind cover that is surrounded by scorched metal and furniture.

Kneeling next to the man, Glaz turns and sees him and smiles immediately.

"I knew that those missiles wouldn't take you down, what's happened down below?"

After he asked that, Devin looks down and shakes his head, telling Glaz exactly what happened without expressly saying it aloud.

"How many?"

"We're down to four men; you, me, Tulma, and Butler. Garrus should be here any minute now, so let's get the hell off this floor and downstairs, okay?" He tells him, seeing him nod in agreement as he switches from his viper to his vindicator.

"Lead the way."

And with that being said, the two of them moves down from the upper floor to regroup with the others, giving them fire support long enough for Garrus to get back to them.

He hopes that they can hold the line long to live and see that happen…

* * *

Garrus had just witnessed the bombing run that the mantis gunship had done, no doubt within his mind that a few of his friends had died in that single instance. Taking the chance and opportunity that was given to him, Garrus rams the gunship and heavily damages it, sending it limping away and almost crashing, metaphorically, and dives beneath the bridge to avoid the gunfire that is now aimed at him.

"Bastards…" He mutters as he watches the mercs fire back towards whatever is left of his base.

Driving through the lower levels to enter one of the car ports, Garrus turns off the engines and practically sprinted out of it and towards the main floor, grabbing thermal clips as he ran by them in hopes that he'd make it in time.

Sidonis will pay for what he did, that he was sure of.

* * *

Hearing the door open up one more time, the four of them stood ready to blow whoever it was that just opened the door to kingdom come, but all of them sighed in relief that it turned out to be the man they were all waiting for.

Immediately, Garrus joined them at their cover, firing his rifle at the opposite end of the bridge.

"What's the situation?"

Devin was immediate with his answer.

"Sir, we've sustained massive casualties over the last thirty minutes, eight dead, Grellik included. Without him, whatever injuries we sustain can't be healed or patched up, we've ran out of medi-gel and are on our last legs as it is. Without… without aid, we're dead." He tells him, punctuating this statement by pointing at the others with cuts, scrapes, bruises, and blood on their faces.

Thinking about the explosives that cover the bridge, Garrus asks them why they haven't detonated it and close off the only entrance. Devin responded that it was discovered earlier that the explosive detonator sequence for them was completely fried, as if someone hacked it and utterly scrambled its coding to the point of it being a permanent decoration piece for the bridge now.

However, before Garrus could comment on that, a singular rifle shot is heard as Glaz falls to the ground, holding his chest in pain as blood begins to leaks through his fingers. Following this, another one is heard as Butler's head jerks sideways, falling on top of Glaz, dead before he hit the ground.

"FUCK!" Devin screams, removing Butler off of Glaz as he drags him back into cover.

"Вот дерьмо…" (pronounced vot der'mo, essentially meaning something like oh shit, that's not good, I think)

Garrus takes one look at the situation and turns to look at Devin, and tells him to take Tulma and Glaz and get them out of here and that he'll cover them.

"Are you fucking crazy!? There's no way that I'll leave you behind!"

Taking one look at the man, Garrus tells him that Glaz will die without aid and Tulma could cover him as he carries Glaz to the shuttle, he'll stay behind and cover them.

Before he could argue any further, a scream interrupts them from arguing any further; and it didn't come from Glaz.

Turning to the source made Devin's blood run ice cold: a turian stood above Tulma with his knife deep in her gut, almost to the hilt.

Screaming in absolute rage, Devin takes his own knife out and grabs it in reverse grip and stabs it as deep as he can into the turian's back, completely lifting him in the air as he uses his other hand to fire his boltok into the infiltrator that had uncloaked shortly after his partner had attacked.

Seeing the large, black armored human lifting a turian with nothing but a knife wielded by one arm made the freelancers back up and move out of the building, knowing that if he got his hands on them then it would've been bad.

Throwing the corpse to the ground, Devin lifts his foot into the air and stomps on the head, completely crushing it as the head and helmet aren't capable of taking such traumatic and massive amounts of force.

**(Evidence to support this is when in Gears UE, the remastered cutscene when the locust forces were attacking Delta squad, there is a scene where a drone casually steps on a discarded COG helmet, crushing it halfway. Now, given with this, the helmet was made to stop large caliber rounds from penetrating and completely blowing someone's brains out. Carmine is the exception. And given how the armor in ME are ceramic and composite materials, it's safe to assume that the helmet would shatter beneath the forces exerted from the full-power curb stomp, one capable of crushing a locust's head with ease.)**

Looking back down to Tulma, he sees her applying pressure to area around the knife, but leaving said knife still stuck inside her; doing this would ensure that she won't bleed out faster. Kneeling down, Devin grabs Glaz and throws him over his shoulder ignoring the less than pleasant things he had to say about him doing that, and gingerly picks Tulma up and carries her bridal style, silently looking at Garrus for directions.

"Go to the car port, there's a shuttle waiting for you once you arrive. Use it, and fly to Gozu District, there's a clinic ran by a salarian doctor and he's a damn good one. If you don't know where that is, just use the autopilot feature and type that in as its destination and it'll take you there as fast as it can. Now go and save them, while I'm here getting target practice done… understand me Devin?" He asks him, seeing the man nod his head in desperation as he runs through the doors to the shuttle, making sure that Glaz would stay on his shoulder and that Tulma was as comfortable as she could be, considering her predicament.

"That's what love and desperation does, I guess…" Garrus mutters to himself, before sending a round straight through another mercs head.

* * *

He's panicking, he knows that he shouldn't be, he's a fucking Onyx Guard, the best of the best, the most disciplined, the most trained Gear in the entirety of the COG military, but he's panicking like Benjamin would when the locust war started. He tried to calm himself down, he really did, but it didn't work; he just kept panicking.

Finding the autopilot feature was easy enough; it was literally a button press and typing in the location on the shuttle's terminal, then setting the speed. None of that mattered though, Glaz and Tulma were in the back clinging onto life while he sat in the driver's seat. Before leaving, he found two units of medi-gel in the back and used one on both of them, much to Glaz's chagrin about him wanting Devin to use both of them on Tulma. He hoped and prayed to god and the Allfathers that they would live, begging them to not let them die as he watched the shuttle fly by at high speeds towards its destination.

He's going to make sure that Sidonis would pay.

* * *

Meanwhile, three humans, two male and one female, stepped through the airlock leading towards the entrance of the (in)famous Afterlife club, looking around the area to take in the sights that were available to them. However, they stop as a damaged Blue Suns shuttle stops and lands over to their left, seeing a large, black armored human climb out of the cab and begins to kick the side of the vehicle, screaming curses at it before opening the side hatch and grabbing a human and throwing him over his shoulder and grabs a turian and carries her bridal style, running across the area and going through the doors on the far right and out of sight, completely ignoring the attention that the debacle had gathered.

"So… is that sort of thing normal on this station, Miranda?" Asks the lead human, pointing at the shuttle in question where the giant had come from.

"Honestly commander, it probably is." The now named 'Miranda' answers, looking as confused as her teammates.

"Well… this is Omega, and the shuttle does look like it belonged to the Blue Suns, at one point. The person who came out of it wasn't a merc by any means, so I'm guessing that he stole it and fled. So… yeah that's probably a normal thing here, Shepard." The other man explains, thinking about the person who left it in such a hurry with a human and a turian literally weighing him down.

The now named 'Shepard' nods his head, accepting the answer for what he's seen so far of the station.

"Think we can recruit him for our suicide mission Jacob, Miranda?" He asks the both of them rhetorically, grinning as he sees Jacob shrug and Miranda giving him a disagreeing glare.

"Eh whatever, let's go get this Archangel guy, afterwards we can grab this Mordin Solus, and I know it'd be better to grab him first, but with this Archangel guy, knowing his type, he'll probably be under heavy fire by the time we get there. So yeah… he's first."

And with that, the three of them enters the club, oblivious to the fact that they'd be meeting the strange human very soon.

* * *

'_Stupid fucking piece of shit shuttle, what the fuck is wrong with the damn thing? Why wouldn't it take me to the damn clinic? Was the damage really worse than what I thought? Dammit, at least my omni-tool is giving me directions that the guard at the front door gave me; he's a good guy, thought I'd have to fight him to get through, but seeing what situation I was in probably made him relent.'_ Devin thought, silently appreciating the fact that the guard and those behind the makeshift barricade allowed him to pass through without issue.

He was warned that the district was put into quarantine due to some disease going around, but that didn't stop him from running the entire time, over the course of several minutes; deftly avoiding the Blue Suns and whatever Blood Pack forces were fighting over petty bullshit, and those that he couldn't avoid received several shots to the upper torso area from his boltok.

Fucking varren and vorcha.

'_Only another hundred or more yards until I get there, hold on just a little bit longer, guys. I promise you both that I'll save your lives, I swear on it.'_ He thinks to himself, crossing the many open areas and twists and turns in seconds as the fighting mercs turned their heads in curiosity as whoever was thundering down the walkways was clearly on a self-mission of importance.

He wasn't even concerned if he was shot at or even shot, he had unequipped his shield emitter and applied it to Glaz, effectively giving him two shields to defend him against damage should it come his way. Devin's reasoning was for whoever was shooting at them from behind wouldn't kill him as Devin ran by them, keeping his eyes ahead and looking around for anyone that would try and hurt Tulma, ultimately protecting her from damage should it come her way.

There was one who tried to stand directly in his way; a vorcha trying to order them to stop and surrender, but he was casually batted aside via boot to the chest.

Needless to say, that vorcha would no longer be bothering anyone ever again.

Seeing the last walkway leading downwards to a flight of stairs, Devin slows down enough to carefully step down each one of them, making sure not to jostle his precious cargo, then steps through the doors in time meet the business end of three guns wielded by two mechs and a human.

He stared at them intently, tensing up as he prepares for gunfire, but stops and relaxes slightly but still on guard after he sees that they lower their weapons.

"Don't try anything funny, if you don't want to these mechs on you." The human warns him, clearly confident in his position.

"I'll kill everyone in this clinic, if harm comes my friend's way, starting with you having to eat those mechs bit by fucking bit. I'm not in the mood for your petty, pitiful, and miserable excuse of guard duty, so stay the fuck out of my way, and I won't have to use my chainsaw on your balls."

The man lifted his arms in a gesture of surrender, telling him to go on through the doors, knowing full well that he meant exactly what he said and that he'd do it in a blink of an eye.

Thanking the Allfathers yet again, Devin jogs inside the main area of the clinic and sees a state of disarray amongst the area; multiple people of practically all races are here are either sick or dying. He shakes himself from his stupor as he walks on through, gaining the stares and gazes of those around him, looking around for a salarian doctor that could help his friends.

Going through the back hallway, he is met by a young human, most likely an assistant or even a nurse of some sort for the doctor.

"My name's Daniel, I'm the assistant of doctor Mordin Solus here at the clinic, can you tell me what happened to these two?" The man asks, leading him to a couple of empty operating tables as Devin gingerly sets the both of them down and takes a single look at the both of them before answering.

"Blue Suns attacked us over in Kima District, the human, Glaz, took a sniper round to the chest and is currently suffering from internal bleeding, the turian, Tulma… she was stabbed in the gut by a merc when I wasn't paying attention. The knife is still in her, as you can see, so she shouldn't have lost too much blood… Please… help them." He tells the man, looking straight into his eyes as the man nods and leaves him, gaining the doctors attention.

Seeing the doctor walk over and examine his friends made him worry: what if they were too far gone, what if Glaz couldn't be saved, what if Tulma couldn't, what if they were already dead? He hopes to god that they weren't.

The salarian grabbed his chin in thought, humming as he took in the sight of the damage that had been done to his friends before turning back to Devin.

"Interesting situation, carried these two by yourself, weight must've been at least 350 pounds, out of breath, exhausted perhaps. You ran here, clearly, and had enough sense to leave knife in the wound, hmm that makes things easier. Going to need armor off both of them, can't start the procedures unless they come off. You, however, are more interesting, larger than any human I've seen, genetic diversity high probability, size also suggests greater strength than normal human too, evidence of you carrying these two supports that, armor is covered in blood, human and turian and… krogan, perhaps salarian as well. Encounter with all three gangs…" at this point does the fucker take a single breath, then continues where he left off from, "highly likely. Armor is unlike anything I've seen before, seen a lot of it in my life, but looks as if it can hold well against gunfire. I'll help your friends, go ahead and sit down and they'll be tended to." He finally finishes, his long ass speech almost making Devin scream at him to help his friends instead of talking the entire time.

Nodding and profusely thanking the doctor, Devin turns and leaves the clinic, deciding against staying there to go back and help Garrus, equipping his lancer and loads one of his last mags into it and makes his way back through the warzone that plagues the district, alongside the actual plague.

He has a shuttle to steal, a place to go, and a friend to help. And he'll be damned if any merc dares to stand in his way.

* * *

With his newly acquired shuttle, Devin types in the destination to head back to Garrus, hellbent on keeping his promise to him as he is only minutes away from his objective. And after those minutes passed by, he sees that the firefight hasn't stopped while he was gone, signifying that his friend is still alive and kicking ass.

Landing on the bridge, he jumps out and proceeds to start shooting whoever he didn't recognize. And the results were glorious: blood, limbs, and bodies flew as the rounds perforated the flesh underneath the armor that the mercs had on them, while only a couple of the shielded ones were able to take cover long enough to not get killed by the rifle.

Storming into the building with his gnasher equipped, he leaps over one of the shelves and kicks a merc straight in the chest and fires his gnasher inches from his head, completely reducing it to a fine mist as he continues on, moving up the stairs and gunning down a few mercs who were trying to hack the door open.

Opening the door and locking it back behind him, Devin sees that Garrus looks like he's been put through a game of thrashball against the Cole Train himself.

Basically: fucking miserable.

"Am I glad you're back here, damned mercs just won't stop coming." He says, reloading his rifle with a fresh thermal clip before firing it again.

"Looks like you've cleared this place out since I've been gone." Devin tells him, seeing even more corpses on the bridge than there were before he left.

"About that, it seems as if your god and all of the turian spirits were on our side today; backup arrived, and it's the best damn possible backup anyone could ever ask for: remember my old friend, the one I told you about? He isn't dead after all; the bastard is still alive and he has a couple of others helping as well. We'll make it through this, I promise you that much." He elaborates, and Devin could see and hear the sincerity in voice and eyes, and that gave him hope as well.

"Where is he right now? I don't think I killed anyone that may fit his description, when I was making my way up here." He asks, equipping his boltok and firing at anyone who got on or near the stairs with deadly efficiency.

"The lower levels, they're sealing them to keep the Blood Pack from swarming me up here. Shepard wanted to keep one of his crew up here with me, but I told him that it wasn't necessary and that you would be back anytime within the next ten minutes. And now that you're here, let's avenge our friends, shall we?" He asks him rhetorically, tossing him the vindicator as well a couple of thermal clips to use it with.

And with that last sentence, the both of them fires at the mercs down below, with their combined fire effectively slowing the merc's progress to a near stand-still.

That was until a group of krogan showed up through a hole bursting through a wall, showing Devin that they must've been drilling their way through the walls to make a tunnel network. Asking Garrus if he had any frags that he could use, he was met with a negative from him, informing him that he used them earlier when he was gone to stop several groups of ballsy freelancers.

Nodding his head, he takes another look below and sees a vorcha take a round to the head, courtesy of the sniper beside him. Hearing the krogan saying that he'll deal with his friend made Devin pissed, but he saw that this would be a perfect moment to deal with him personally.

Setting the vindicator down, Devin reaches for his lancer and revs it a couple of times, casually walking to the door and ignoring what was happening below and Garrus calling out to him to wait a moment.

"This one is for you and Jennifer, Grellik… and you as well Michael." He quietly says to himself, hoping that the dead Gear and his two friends are hearing and seeing what's about to happen.

Unlocking the door for the approaching krogan, Devin merely looks at Garrus and says only two words to the turian.

"Watch this."

And with that, he raises the rifle into the air and revs it completely just as the door opens up to reveal a rather confused krogan standing on the opposite side, and brings it down right into his face; the teeth easily catching and shredding the tissue that makes up the krogan's head, reducing the krogan to a screaming, bloody mess in an instant.

Ignoring the screams, he kept sawing away at the krogan, sending his grey matter and orange-yellow tinted, fluorescent-like blood all over his body, completely covering him in head to toe.

Letting go of the lever and kicking the body away from him, Devin is greeted to the sight of three awfully familiar humans standing, staring at him with their weapons trained on him and faces (two of them at least) in visible disgust.

Hearing the distinct lack of gunfire, Garrus comes up to the door and sees the rather… graphic scene that Devin has _kindly_ blessed them with, before looking at the newly arrived group of humans and motions for them to lower their weapons.

"It's okay Shepard, this is the guy I told you about; he was my backup that I was waiting on when you showed up, with that in mind let's all get in here and talk."

And with that defusing the situation, the five of them moves into the room, making sure to avoid the body that now occupies the area in front of the door, and takes a look out to the other side of the bridge.

"This is Onyx? Damn, when you said he was almost as large as some of the krogan, I thought you were joking. Besides that, where were you going with those two people that you were carrying, when you landed in front of Afterlife?" The man questions Devin, not using his name when addressing him. Probably because Garrus didn't tell them his name, which he was somewhat glad for.

Then what the man in front of him just registered in his mind; he asks him how did he know that information, to which he responded with the fact that he seen him doing just that with his own eyes, after abusing the obviously battered shuttle.

"Wait a second… you're those people I glanced at nearly an hour ago, coming through that airlock at the front entrance, right?" He asks, remembering thinking about how the woman dressed like a slut in a uniform that leaves next to nothing to the imagination and in this type of environment, no less.

"Ah, glad to see that you remember us. I'm Commander Shepard, an old friend of Garrus here. He told me a bit about how you are basically the human version of a krogan and the fact that you like using antique weapons to kill people with. And I've got to say; was not expecting the chainsaw at all." He laughs, pointing at the lancer as he commented on what he did to the krogan, before extending his hand out to the man who is nearly a foot taller than him.

Accepting the gesture, Devin shakes the man's hand before letting it go, and grabbing the vindicator as he holsters his lancer.

"Pleasure to meet you, call me Onyx, for now until I can trust you enough with my real name, and Garrus has told me a lot about you and your exploits against Saren. If any of those stories were even partially true, then I have no worries about us getting out of here at all."

"Okay you two, you can find a room later after we get out of here." Garrus interjects, gaining everyone's attention as Shepard walks up to him and tells him that only the Blue Suns are left and that they should push the barricade and get out of here.

"I think you're right, Tarak's got the toughest group, but nothing we haven't faced before." He tells him, agreeing with his statement as he adjusts his rifle's scope to be better suited for shorter distances.

"Besides, he won't be expecting us to meet him head-on—"

They are all stopped as they hear the sound of an engine closing in on their position, all of them diving for cover as the fourth and final wave of the assault began sooner than they had anticipated.

"Dammit, I thought I took that thing out already! They're offloading troops! Watch your back, Shepard!" Garrus curses, warning the man as he dives into cover by the beds to avoid the gunfire from the Blue Suns mercs zip-lining in through the window in the back.

"Trust me, they didn't get to finish repairing it; I made sure of that."

Only four of them ropes in, but one of them has tech armor and a revenant equipped in her hands and she uses it to try and mow down the five people on the other side of the room. Needless to say, she was everyone's primary target and they all focused their fire on her for a solid five seconds before Shepard puts a hole straight through her head, putting her down permanently.

After the other three were dealt with, Garrus tells them that more of them are rappelling in from the ground floor, one of them wielding a grenade launcher and two more are higher ranking with better gear and weapons and the last one is a standard trooper. More were most certainly on their way.

Devin focused his fire at the heavy trooper, knowing that the grenade launcher that the merc possessed would become a lethal hazard in mere seconds, if not taken care of asap. With that in mind, he goes to the side room balcony and begins firing at the merc from there, whittling down her shields enough to the point where a single burst from his rifle to her head permanently drops her dead to the ground.

Seeing that the commander and his squad took care of the other three with relative ease, they reloaded their weapons to combat the new wave of troops that rappelled through the window, hellbent on killing them all.

He'd be damned if he allowed a single one of them assholes even remotely near the stairs.

Switching from his vindicator, Devin grabs his gnasher and loads in a fresh set of shells, knowing that he only has roughly twelve more left before he can no longer use them, and jumps over the railing and on top of a batarian legionnaire, sending the alien straight to the ground where Devin casually curb stomps him.

Raising his shotgun, he begins sending shell after shell into the close-by centurions, killing one and sending the other into cover, while Shepard and crew fired at them from above.

All in all, the situation was FUBAR for the mercenaries on the ground floor. Needless to say, they were dead within minutes of being down there.

Giving an all-clear, Devin lowers his weapon and sighs, popping his neck and hands as he walks back up to where Garrus and the others were at, and this was the moment that Tarak and his gunship made one final entrance: in the form of aiming the guns at Garrus.

"ARCHANGEL!" Is heard over the loudspeaker, gathering everyone's attention immediately.

Reacting too late, Garrus is shot at with a staggering amount of mass accelerator fire, sending the turian to his knees and crawling to safety behind a vanity planter.

This wouldn't save him from what the pilot had in store for him next.

"YOU THINK YOU CAN SCREW WITH THE BLUE SUNS! THIS ENDS NOW!" Is all that is said before a rocket barrage erupts throughout the room, causing massive damage to the room and the intended target, sending Garrus to the metal floor in a puddle of blood slowly forming beneath him as he lies there unmoving.

"GARRUS!" Both Devin and Shepard shouts, looking at their friend with worry.

Now Devin was pissed: he didn't send two of his friends to die while destroying a jammer, he didn't risk his life holding his position for his friend to return to base, he didn't risk his friend's life when he left him to go to the clinic, he didn't allow any of these bastards to get to him.

But… he couldn't stop the gunship from gunning him down.

Now all that he feels is rage.

Throwing his rifle down, Devin grabs his lancer and unloads the last of his magazine's ammo into the cockpit, splintering the glass in multiple places and shattering it completely in others, and reloads it with his last magazine, completely ignoring the rounds pinging off and scratching his armor from the troops that rappelled in to his right.

"YOU MOTHERFUCKERS! I'LL KILL YOU ALL!" He roars, pissed that the pilot guided the gunship to the top of the building to avoid the gunfire that was being sent his way.

Snapping his head to a batarian that got too close, Devin casually saws the man in half, spraying blood and guts all over the place, before continuing on with the lancer revved and removes the head from a turian within seconds, watching as the body moved and twitched on its own at the loss of its head before collapsing to the ground. With the final merc hiding behind cover, Devin reaches over and grabs the man by the throat, lifting him in the air with both arms and breaks his neck with a single jerk of his wrists, then throws the corpse to the ground before grabbing his lancer once more.

Ignoring the looks from the others, Devin lines up his sights with the fractured cockpit and sends a single five shot burst straight through it, drilling Tarak straight in the torso and neck as he loses control of the gunship and crashes it to the lower levels of district, finishing the fight permanently.

Holstering his rifle, Devin shoves Jacob out of the way, kneeling down to Garrus as he flips him over and starts looking at him. Seeing and hearing the turian taking a sharp, ragged, and very much breath made Shepard shout his name.

"It's going to be okay Garrus, we're getting you out of here, man. Just… just hold on a little bit longer." Devin tells him, looking to the commander for reassurance, to which the man gave it.

"Radio Joker! Make sure they're ready for us!" He orders his crew, ignoring the sounds of Garrus coughing blood in favor of getting him out of here asap.

"We better hurry; he looks bad…" Jacobs solemnly informs them, his omni-tool scanning Garrus' vitals, to which they were in critical condition.

* * *

Devin followed them as they took Garrus to their ship, refusing to leave regardless of the fact that the woman had a gun pointed right at his face, stating that wherever Garrus went, he went and that if she didn't like it, then she can go fuck off. Shepard intervened, stepping in between the two of them as he ordered Miranda to stand down and that he is fully supportive for him to be on the vessel.

"Commander, the security risks that are present from him remotely being here are too great! He is an unknown, and that isn't even touching the fact that he doesn't have a shield system, outdated weapons, and the overall lack of knowledge that we have about him!" She exclaims, ranting on how he shouldn't be here and that he is a problem to them all.

Shepard was having none of it.

"I don't give a damn what Cerberus, the Illusive Man, or what YOU think, Miranda. I'm the captain of this ship, I'm in charge of this mission, and I can recruit whoever I damn well please! Do I make myself clear?" He responds, getting right into her face as if daring her to say anything on the subject matter.

"Yes… commander." She seethes out, stomping out of the conference room in a fit of barely controlled anger.

Shepard sighs as he rubs his head, trying to alleviate the headache that is forming from the argument that unfolded when Devin came aboard.

"Sorry about that, I don't like throwing my authority around like that, but she forced my hand." He tells Devin, looking at him with an apologetic look across his features as Devin shrugs.

"It's no problem, commander, I had to do that a few times myself when I was in the military." He responds, shrugging off the man's actions due to the fact that he had to do what he did to make her remember who's in charge.

Shepard gains a surprised look at the revelation, asking the man when he served in the Alliance and what his rank was.

"It's practically been a lifetime ago for me, and I was a captain. Due to some… extenuating circumstances, however, I had to leave that life behind me. Something I don't want to talk about." He explains, getting a nod of understanding from the man as he knew what those types of circumstances were like personally.

"Well, what type of combat training do you have? And where did the armor and weapons come from? I've never seen anything like them." He asks him, leaning on the table to get a better look at the man across from him.

"I can use anything from a pistol to a sniper rifle, extensive hand-to-hand combat training, and experience with using anything from frags to stim grenades. And I doubt that you'll ever see another type of armor like this anywhere else; had it custom made and tailored to my body specifically… costed an arm and a leg… or several. As for the weapons, well they've been with me for a long while now, and the rifle I have was given to me when a friend of mine died. I like to think that he's looking down and smiling at the prospect of his rifle tasting more alien blood."

Hearing that made Shepard's eyes go wide.

"Stim grenades? Damn, those haven't been in use since the early 70's. Sorry to say, but damn you're old. And this friend of yours sounds like a sociopath." He laughs, seeing the man shrug at the remark before taking his helmet off, showing him a face that looks slightly younger than him. But a face that has seen more horror and pain than he's seen in his entire life.

"I'm only… 40, I guess. Maybe 39 and a half."

It was at this point Jacob gained their attention, stating that they had done everything they could to help Garrus, though he did take a bad hit.

Hearing that made both Devin's and Shepard's faces fall, the grim situation that brought them here.

"The docs corrected with surgical procedures and some cybernetics. Best we can tell, he'll retain full functionality, but…" He trails off, noticing that their faces are still grim and solemn.

He is interrupted by the sound of the door opening, revealing the turian in question standing there with a large chunk of his neck armor missing and scorched, face heavily scarred on the right side, as he looks at the two familiar faces in the room.

"Shepard, Onyx."

Jacob let's off a whistle, stating that he's a tough son of a bitch and that he didn't think that he'd be up this soon.

Strolling in casually like he didn't take a rocket to the face, he looks at his friends with a questioning gaze, pointing to the side of his face with his talon.

"Nobody would give me a mirror. How bad is it?"

Shepard gained an evil look in his eyes as he couldn't stop grinning, "Hell Garrus, you were always ugly. Slap some face-paint on there, and no one would even notice." Came the snarky remark, causing Devin and Garrus to chuckle a bit, the latter groaning afterwards as he brought his arm up to relieve the pain in reflex.

"Ha-ah. Don't make me laugh, damn it, my face is barely holding together as it is." He tells the man, before continuing with his sentence.

"Ah, probably for the best. Everyone was always ignoring you and hitting on me. Time for you to get a fair shot at it."

Hearing that retort, Shepard just shakes his head, happy to see that his friend is the same person he met two years ago.

Watching Jacob salute and leave the room, Garrus turns to Shepard with a slight sense of unease in his voice, voicing his concerns about working with Cerberus, and how they ran those sick experiments all those years ago.

Nodding at what he said, Shepard tells him that he's glad that he's here with him, and that he's a familiar and trustworthy face. And this mission has them going deep into hell itself, and that he'd be glad to have him watching his back.

"You realize this plan has me walking into hell too? Hah, just like old times. I'm fit for duty, whenever you need me Shepard. I'll settle in and see what I can do at the forward batteries." He tells him, turning to leave the room before stopping and looking right back at them both.

"Shepard… Onyx here is an amazing fighter, I'll vouch for him myself, if this suicide mission is as bad as you say it is… he'll be our best bet for heavy hitters."

And with that said, Garrus finally leaves the room, leaving the two of them alone once again.

"This suicide mission we're on has us going against a species called the Collectors, an insectoid race working for the Reapers. There's no guarantee that any of us will escape with our lives, but we're doing this to stop them from taking entire human colonies, killing everyone there. Will you help us?" He asks the man, setting everything that the mission has to offer at his feet, metaphorically, looking at the man dead in the eyes.

"On one condition: my two friends that I was carrying, one of them was an N6 sniper before he left the military life, and the other was a turian cabal. Both of them are heavily trained and—"

"Deal."

Stopping at the sudden answer, Devin merely raises an eyebrow at the man, but shrugs nonetheless at his acceptance for his friends to join.

"Welcome aboard the Normandy, Onyx. I hope you'll do well here." Shepard tells him, extending a hand out for the man to shake.

"Happy to be here, commander." He replies, smiling at the man as they shook hands.

And with that, the both of them leaves the room, not knowing that they had just made a historic moment that would only be known by few in the future.

* * *

**And that wraps up the Archangel recruitment mission! Shepard has arrived at Omega, Glaz and Tulma are at Mordin's clinic, Garrus is still ugly, and Devin will finally see the rest of the galaxy. Besides that, this is the longest chapter so far: sitting at roughly 9750 words, give or take, without adding the author's notes. I hope that this chapter holds well and the pacing is good enough for you all. I know in the game it states that Garrus has been holding the mercenaries off for a long while, a week or two at most, but it isn't really factual. Allow me to explain.**

**One man, given the arsenal that Garrus had (a sniper rifle and a battle rifle), would be able to hold of a couple dozen people for quite a bit, maybe even a couple of days. But against over a hundred individuals, some of whom have regenerative abilities, explosives, snipers, and etc wouldn't be held off for more than an hour or two, at the absolute most, and a dozen minutes at least. Throw in the gunship... it isn't a pretty picture.**

**My dad and I served in the US Army for a bit, him being active duty and a sniper, who also had the m16a2 assault rifle when he served roughly thirty years ago and me being National Guard, with the m4a1 carbine, we both came to the same conclusion about Garrus in this situation. It just isn't possible for a man to survive for a week. Mainly due to superior numbers, more diverse equipment, and a literal gunship all thrown against a single ground soldier.**

**With this in mind, I decided to have the mercs employ the freelancers as soon as they attack the hideout, Shepard and co to arrive on the day of the attack, and for them to meet up later. I hope this clears any confusion as to why these elements were used for this chapter.**

***Last chapter has been updated with an extra ~1700 words, please read it again to see the changes, if you haven't done so already!***

**Leave a review, tell me how to better the chapter, follow, or a favorite at your own discretion: they all make my day, but aren't needed.**

**(PS- try to find the reference to For Honor in the chapter, bonus points in life if you do)**

**Now to explain the day differences between Earth and Sera: Earth has a 24 hour day, 365 days a year calendar, Sera has a 26 hour calendar and a whopping 457 days a year! That's 92 days longer than our year. Add the fact that their days are two hours longer as well, means that there are actually more days than the stated 457.**

**Subtract the 24 hours from 26 hours and you'll get 2 hours, multiply this 2 by 12 and you'll get 24. That's an additional day. So, every 12 Seran days are 13 Earth days. Using this information, we can divide 457 by 13 and get 35 (rounded to the nearest decimal point). Now we add the 35 to 457 and then we'll get 492, give or take we aren't taking leap year in account for this equation. That means, if we use Earth's time and replace Sera's with it, there will be a staggering 492 days in a single year; 127 days longer than our own! With this in mind, multiplying Devin's age of 29 to the 127 extra days, we'll get an additional 3683 days for his age, putting him at roughly 39 to 40 years old. That also means that the Pendulum Wars lasted close to, if not over, 100 years and E-Day lasting nearly 24 or 25. Wow, that's a long time to be at war with only a month of peace. The closest example we have in real life is the hundred years war, from roughly 1217 to 1314, give or take, and even then, that wasn't a consecutive war; it was many wars that occurred is a short time from one another.**

**That is all, see you next week!**


	7. A Model Scientist

**Hello everyone, I hope that you all have had an great week and weekend, I however, cannot say the same; my dog had passed away Saturday morning and it has everyone here tore up. However much we miss him, I just hope that wherever he is he's doing good. He deserves that much, at least. Didn't get much writing done this week, still only now finishing up chapter eight, and with what happened the other day still in our minds, it's rough. But I will keep my promise and bring you all a chapter every Monday, and this won't stop that.**

**Since last chapter, we've had over 370 views, three more follows, four favorites (23 and 22 respectively) and four more (technically three, since one of these were for the notice) reviews! Thank you all so much, I very much appreciate what you all have given me.**

**On to this chapter: this one is about the second and final mission on Omega; Mordin. I changed up a few things from the games, mainly dialog and some actions that you can choose to do, but it all relatively stays similar enough that you can follow where Devin is at most points. And best of all, Glaz and Tulma are here as well and are (relatively speaking, they are in a plague infested district that will mess up any non-humans surrounded by murderous mercenaries) okay, but some of you might be disappointed in this about a choice I made. But fret not, all of this will go as planned. Trust me.**

**An update on the cover art: it will be done sometime this week! I had spoken with my friend and he had informed me that it would be done by this coming Friday.**

**Now on to the reviews:**

**Mythian: You're welcome, and yes Devin will be upgrading his arsenal and adding to it, the Gears 5 beta is giving me interesting ideas on how some executions can go... And beyond that, I suppose he'll get a lot of attention, especially when he goes to the Citadel and meets a certain someone's family member.**

**ArchAngel: Glad you liked it! And I had no intention of killing off Glaz, well at the beginning I did, but the more I wrote about him, the more I grew fond of him. Now, I can't bring myself to hurt the poor guy even more than I already have. But as stated above, you may be a bit disappointed; but trust me with this, I know what I'm going to do with his situation. And for the next couple of chapters, you're not really going to see many interactions with Tulma, her wounds (which will be stated below in the chapter) will definitely keep her bed ridden for a while. At least until they arrive at the Citadel, then we'll learn more of her back story.**

**Blaze: It'll be a couple of chapters, as I've told you, but with him being on a known terrorist ship, he wouldn't just want to hand them his chip and give them access to everything on it, know what I'm saying? Imagine Cerberus having a silverback enhanced with eezo? Stuff of nightmares. But, trust me on this, Devin will be expanding his arsenal even further with weapons from home, it'll be sometime before he gets them. Like maybe a few more chapters from now until we will see something like the hammerburst or the longshot, as you stated. Some of the heavier stuff, however, will be later down the road.**

**Before the disclaimer; I made small error/grammar fixes, nothing major like an entire paragraph, just adding some punctuation and letters here and there. There is no need to go back reread anything, you'll only be reading what you've already seen before. Remember; while they are very much appreciated and makes my day, any review, favorite, and follow aren't needed, you all can do any single one of those on your own free will.**

**Disclaimer: I own neither game franchise, only whatever characters and/or details that I add in.**

* * *

**Chapter Seven: A Model Scientist**

Shepard came by the armory, finding Devin there and told him to gather his weapons and whatever else he needed, stating that he is going with him to recruit the salarian doctor for him to research the Collector samples that they gathered in a previous mission.

Waving goodbye to Jacob, he tells the man to not anyone touch his weapons, stating the fact that they're one of a kind and that they're practically out of ammo. He also threatened to rip someone a new ass if they did touch them, causing the man to nod his head and Shepard reaffirming the statement and request, basically turning it into an order for everyone.

Collapsing the vindicator and holstering it across his back, along with the katana shotgun (he let Shepard have the eviscerator) and the carnifex pistol down by his thigh, Devin grabs a dozen thermal clips and puts them in his satchels, not worrying about having different ammo calibers and magazines for his weapons, as all modern weapon's thermal clips are universal.

Stepping up at to the airlock, he sees Shepard talking to the pilot, someone named Joker if he remembers correctly, and cleared his throat to gain their attention.

Turning around, the both of them see Devin standing there waiting for them to finish their conversation.

"So, this is the unexpected new guy? Damn, talk about overcompensating commander, this guy has everyone beat." The man commented, seeing Shepard shake his head at what he just said in mock annoyance.

"He's compensating for the fact that not everyone can move around and not break a bone in the process Joker; almost as if he's working for two people with one body." Came the retort, the man chuckling at the pilot's misfortune.

"Hey, that's uncalled for! And not to mention unfair…"

Immediately following that, Devin realized that they were talking about the man's condition. Now this would be uncalled for, and maybe even cruel, but Devin felt like he could get along with the man; as such, he decided to pick up where the commander had left off.

"Get up and do something about, don't let the man walk all over you! Show him who's boss, whip his ass, or something! Stand up for yourself, show the others that you mean business!" Devin exclaims, trying desperately to not laugh aloud, but the face that Joker made was nearly enough to break him.

Grumbling to himself about his Vrolik's Syndrome and people being cruel, Joker turned around, stating that what he did was cruel and unusual punishment and that they should both feel bad about themselves.

Shepard merely rolled his eyes, saying goodbye to the man as the two of them walked out of the airlock and into the docking bay.

"Hey commander, is it just going to be us on this mission or what?" Devin asks, noticing that no one else is coming with them to get the doctor.

"About that, we'll be meeting a man named Zaeed Massani, he should be meeting us here on the docks."

With that being said, the two of them continues down the walkway in silence, both knowing that no words would be needed to exchange until they find their man, who just so happens to be kneeing a batarian in the ribs. Go figure.

The poor bastard looks up at the two of them, pleading for the two of them to help him.

"No one said you could talk, jackass." The man casually, but harshly, tells the man, kicking him once more to add emphasis to his statement.

Shepard and Devin glances at each other, shrugging at what just happened, before speaking to the man in question.

Shepard clears his throat and step forward, asking the man if he is Zaeed Massani.

The man turns around, revealing a heavily scarred and old face, with a seemingly blind right eye, if the milky gray color that settled within the iris is anything to go by, before answering the question.

"Yeah, that's me. You must be Commander Shepard. I hear we have a galaxy to save."

Picking up right where he left off, Shepard asks him if he's been briefed about their mission, to which he was met with the man stating that their employer, Cerberus, sent them everything he needed to know.

"What's your relationship with Cerberus?"

"Easy. Cerberus is paying me a lot of money to help you on your mission. That's the long and short of it."

"Not many mercs would take a suicide mission for the pay." Shepard commented, noting within the back of his mind that this man isn't any ordinary merc.

"Most mercs don't get an offer like the one Cerberus sent me. This mission doesn't sound like good business. But… your Illusive Man can sure move a lot of credits." He explains, pacing a bit before standing still back in front of Shepard.

And now, with all the essentials out of the way, Shepard points to the downed batarian, and tells the man that his contacts told that they were picking up one man, not two.

Zaeed merely explained who the batarian was, and that that he had pissed someone off and that they had hired him to after the delinquent. Even for his bring him alive rates.

"Please… I didn't do it." Said batarian tried to persuade, but all that got him was a boot in the face with Zaeed telling him to shut it.

"Bastard tried to lead me on chase all over the Systems. He should have known better. These people always run to Omega."

Nodding at what he had said, Shepard shakes his hand, telling him that it was good to have and that they have a lot to do.

After this was said, Zaeed pulls out his pistol, motioning towards the batarian to stay put, before asking Shepard if the Illusive Man told him about their arrangement.

Sounding annoyed at the revelation, Shepard said, "No, I guess he decided to leave that information out of the dossier."

Snorting at the man's response, Zaeed told them that it was a good thing that he asked them about it.

"Picked a mission a little while back, just before I signed up with Cerberus. Thought you might be interested." He elaborates, filling the blank information that their employer had left out, seemingly intentionally, before continuing his mission's details.

"You heard the name Vito Santiago? He's the head of the Blue Suns. Runs the whole organization. Seems he recently captured an Eldfell-Ashland refinery on Zorya and is using their workers for slave labor. The company wants it dealt with." He finishes, waiting for the commander to respond to what he had just been informed about.

Shepard just nods his head, accepting the mission before telling the man that he'll make sure that it gets done.

"Good. Get it out of the way so we can concentrate on being big goddamn heroes." With that finished, the batarian tries to make a break for it, seeing that this was a perfect time to escape.

He didn't make it far when he was clotheslined by a large, metallic arm coming from the tall human standing behind the man who was doing the talking.

Seeing that his bounty hadn't escaped, Zaeed barks out a laugh at what had transpired in front of him.

"Damn fine work, lad. Couldn't had done it better myself. Now, let me turn this thing in before he stinks up the place, then I'll join you on your mission."

With that said, the three of them walks through the airlock, Zaeed headed to wherever it was he needed to go, while Shepard and Devin stood outside of Afterlife to wait for the man, with Shepard telling Devin that it'll be about fifteen minutes for him to get back to them.

"So, while we're waiting, tell me about your friends, considering that I'm going to be recruiting them for my mission." Shepard says, leaning against one of the walls as he looks at Devin.

"Well, I don't know much about Glaz, which is kinda sad, except that he's ex-alliance, a sniper, and born on the human home world. Other than the obvious, he's loud and boisterous, jovial, and an easy-going guy that everyone can be friends with, and he's small."

"Small? Everyone is small compared to you."

"No kidding. But in all seriousness, he comes up to about… I guess right below your eyes, maybe. And that is when he is in his armor. So, like I said, he's small." He explains, seeing the commander nod at his description.

"And the cabal?"

At hearing the mention of Tulma, he stops for a moment and sighs, not wanting to talk about her while knowing that her injuries are putting him on edge.

"Sorry, it's just, Tulma is her name. As I've told you, she used to be a cabal when she was in the turian military. The thing about her is this: she absolutely hates being a biotic, so much so that she absolutely refuses to even use them. Turian cabals don't like being biotic, but she loathes being one. And given how the hierarchy treats cabals, I can see why." He explains, thinking that something may have happened in the past that made her hate herself to that extent.

Maybe he can ask her about it, when he sees her. If she'll tell him.

"When you were carrying them and headed to the clinic, just how much damage did they receive when you were all fighting the merc gangs?" Shepard asked, noticing how the man was upset and angry at himself for them getting hurt. It was painfully obvious, due to how much he dented the front end of the shuttle from kicking it.

"Glaz took a sniper round that bypassed his shield; went straight through his back and through one of his lungs. Tulma… some fucking Blue Suns merc stabbed her straight in the gut with his knife, right to the damn hilt. I wasn't paying attention, I could've prevented them both from getting hurt, had I had paid attention, I would've stopped those damned mercs." He tells him, his inability to keep his friends safe weighing heavily on him, maybe as much as it is for Garrus, if not more.

Patting the man on the shoulder, Shepard tells him that they'll be fine and that there's nothing to worry about, and if they're still hurt by the time they get the doctor, then doctor Chakwas can heal them up just fine, with the most cutting-edge equipment humanity can afford.

Appreciating the gesture, Devin nods his head towards the man in thanks. However, he could hear Zaeed clearing his throat to gain both of their attention.

"You two love birds done yet? We've got mission to complete."

And with that being said, the three of them leaves Afterlife, headed to the side areas that will lead them to their objective.

* * *

"I told you to get lost, lady! The plague has the whole zone quarantined! Nobody gets in!" Exclaims a very aggravated turian, trying to remain civil despite the insistence of a human woman telling him to let her in.

The woman was having none of it.

"I'm human, you ass! Humans can't get the plague! Now let me get my stuff out before looters get it!" She orders him, not budging from her decision to get in the district whether the turian likes it or not.

The guard retorts with, "This thing affects every other race out there! We're not taking chances. Nobody gets in until the plague has run its course."

At this point, Shepard interjects, gaining both parties' attention.

"So, you're saying that the slums are completely sealed off?"

The guard seemed to be relieved at some form of common sense, telling him that is indeed exactly what he's saying.

Then the woman tells him that he can't keep her out forever and that she'll lose all of her stuff, if she doesn't get in there.

Sighing at the outburst, the guard tells her that he's doing her a favor, stating that everyone in the zone will be dead in a few weeks, by either the plague or gangs.

"There's a salarian named Mordin Solus in the slums. I've got to get in there to find him." Shepard tells the man, ready to explain his reasoning if he has to do so to get inside the district.

Upon hearing the name, the guard begins to pace back and forth, telling Shepard that he opened a clinic in the district a few months ago, and the fact that the Blue Suns didn't like that when he did so.

"I hear that Mordin is trying to deal with the plague. I wish him luck, but the area is still locked down." The guard tells them, sympathizing with them to a degree about the situation happening behind the locked door.

That was when Devin stepped up.

"Hey, remember me? You let me pass through here a few days ago, back when I was carrying two people to take them to the doctor. Please, you let me through those doors once before, and since then, I haven't spread the plague anywhere else on this station. Not only is my commander looking for the salarian, I'm wanting to go and visit my friends. Please, I guarantee you that if you let us in one last time, that this plague will be dealt with permanently." Devin tells him, pleading with him one last time in hopes that it'll work.

And amazingly enough, it did. The guard relented and unlocked the door for them to pass through.

"Yeah, I remember you. And what you said was true; there wasn't any outbreak of this plague anywhere else on this station. Okay, one last time. Go on through the doors here, I'll radio the guards to not fire on you three."

"Thank you."

The woman, however, wasn't too pleased.

"Wait, you're letting them through, but you're stopping me? You son of a bitch."

"You don't have a grenade launcher, lady, and you're also not a giant human that can lift two people at once. Get lost."

With that said, the three of them heads on through the door, taking a flight of stairs down into the plague district, and when they turn down the corridor, they are met with two assault rifles being pointed at them.

"Wait, don't shoot! They're allowed to go through the checkpoint." One of the guards tells the other, lowering their rifles to let them pass without objection.

"That was good convincing skills there, Onyx. Although I would have said something else, we still accomplished the objective and got through the checkpoint without bloodshed. Nice work." Shepard appraises, looking at the man in question as he shrugs off the compliment.

"Now, I hope you can lead me to the clinic, seeing as how neither of us knows where we're going."

"I've got you all covered, don't worry."

Nodding at that, the three of them continues heading down the walkway, taking another flight of stairs down and through the doors, only to be met with burning piles of dead bodies and two Blue Suns mercs standing at the far end of the open area.

Reaching behind him, Shepard grabs his mantis sniper rifle and fires it into one of them, dropping the now dead merc straight to the ground in an instant as the other fails to react quick enough to avoid the hail of gunfire that both Zaeed and Devin sent his way.

After they were finished, Zaeed takes on look at the pile of bodies and bluntly tells the rest of them that burning bodies was one of the oldest, and best ways to limit a plague.

Ignoring the comment, they go into one of the side rooms and loot whatever was worth their attention: heavy weapon ammo and some credit chit that Shepard hacked and came upon a locked door.

Upon opening it, they were all met with two dead bodies belonging to the Blue Suns, both of whom were turian.

"Poor bastard tried clawing his way out. Can't say that I wouldn't do the same." Came a comment from Zaeed, to which both Devin and Shepard nodded in agreement.

Dying while trapped in a locked room with no food or water was a bad way to go. Regardless of your species, unless your locust.

Shepard played the recordings that were on the console, letting everyone present hear the dying words of one of the turians as he cursed the Blue Suns for what they did to him and his friend.

They all stopped as Shepard played the last recording, it being riddled with the speaker coughing his literal lungs out and struggling to breathe.

"Daelus died last night. He's still talking to me, though. Good to hear his voice. The company is nice. Nobody should die alone."

Devin had to agree with the last sentence that the man made, nobody shouldn't die alone.

After that was over with, they exited the rooms and went back to the large area with the burning bodies, only to realize that there was a batarian on the ground, seemingly affected by this plague too.

Upon getting closer to him, the batarian coughs a few times, confirming their suspicions, before sneering at them in hateful resentment.

"Humans. Should've guessed. Bad enough that you infect us with this plague. Now you lack the decency to even wait until I die before you come to steal my possessions."

Shepard kneels down before the man, asking him if there's anything that he can do for him.

This causes the batarian to become antagonized, pulling out a pistol and weakly aiming at the three of them.

"Get away from me, human! Your kind has done too much already. Your plague did this to me. Your feigned pity is the final insult."

Shepard tried to convince him that humans didn't create the plague, but the batarian wouldn't believe him, saying that they were lies and that the proof is there for them all to see.

Knowing that he couldn't convince him, Shepard told him that he needed to find Mordin Solus.

The batarian, as usual, had a remark to say about that.

"The humans looking for the human sympathizer. I hope the vorcha burn Mordin and clinic to the ground."

It was at this point where the coughing became too great for him to continue, only getting a single word or two out through pained gasps and breaths.

"Hey, stay with me! This won't cure the plague, but it might help a bit." Shepard tells him, activating his omni-tool and using medi-gel to heal the batarian to the point where his breathing isn't as labored, his coughs aren't frequent, and that he's able to actually stand upright.

"You… you helped me. Why?" He asks in disbelief, his mind not catching up to the fact that a human, of all races, helped him.

"It's what I do. I don't know if I can find a cure for this plague, but I'm going to try." He explained, his voice steady and resolute, showing him that he is being honest.

"Your words sound… sincere. Maybe it's the fever, but as you said, what have I to lose? What do you wish to know?"

"Before I ask anything," Shepard started, "when I find Mordin, I'll tell him about you. If he has a cure, I'll make sure someone gets it to you."

Hearing him say that made the batarian quite possibly the happiest man on Omega; telling the commander that he thanks him, and for giving him a flicker of hope in the darkness of his final hours.

"I don't want to die. Whatever Mordin is, I will risk it, if he can reach me."

"You said that Mordin was worse than the plague, what makes you say that?"

"The Blue Suns tried to press him for protection money. He killed them. Stunned them with some kind of… toxin, before he gunned them down. He's not just a doctor. Doctors don't execute people and display their bodies as a warning." He explains, shuddering at the memory as it played in his mind.

"Why are you so convinced that the humans are the source behind this outbreak?"

The batarian explained that the plague was too potent to be a natural virus, and that the infection can spread to others species, with a near perfect mortality rate, had to have been created within a lab.

The three of them looked at each other and nodded, coming up with the same answer that the batarian had given them.

'_Just like imulsion being able to infect the wretches and other wildlife back home, and rustlung being practically a death sentence.'_ Devin thought to himself, somewhat worried about having to fight exploding animals again.

Wretches were bad enough; lambent wretches were far worse.

The batarian continued his explanation, stopping for a moment to catch his breath, "And since humans are the only species not affected, there is only one logical conclusion."

Shepard asked him about the vorcha, stating that they could be spreading the plague to invade the district.

The batarian had to admit that it did seem plausible, only for him to point out that if the vorcha did create the plague, then why aren't humans getting infected. Not only that, but they aren't smart enough to create one.

"Sorry human, you may not want to believe it, but all evidence points to your species."

Before Shepard could ask another question, the batarian look to Devin before all four of his eyes widened in surprise.

"You… by the Pillars you're here."

Devin merely raised an eyebrow in return, asking if he knew him.

"You saved me, from when the Blood Pack were attacking the lower levels. You and your friends saved a lot of lives. Thank you, thank you for saving as many of us as you could." He tells the man, bowing his head towards the man, as Devin rubbed the back of his head in humility.

"Think nothing of it man, stay here and don't let any of the mercs find you. Come on commander, we've got a salarian to meet." Devin told him, receiving a farewell from the batarian as they walk by.

"I guess you're famous in this district, aren't you?" Shepard asked, seeing Devin shake his head in reluctance.

"Eh, a couple of weeks ago, maybe three, Blood Pack was down here cleaning shop, killing people left and right when we showed up. Spent the next two hours hauling over 300 people to safety. And add in the fact that I brutally slaughtered a krogan with my hands… after sawing his leg off… and tearing his head open… anyways, yeah I guess some people might recognize me." Devin told them, changing the subject and moving forward with vigor, seemingly ignoring the looks that he was given by his companions.

* * *

Coming upon an area that looks to be a dining hall, the three of them spot and open fire upon the mercs at the far end of the room, sending the group to cover as they return fire themselves.

It seems as if there's roughly four of them taking cover. A well-placed grenade or two should take them out.

That thought is dashed when he sees Shepard aim his sniper rifle at an explosive canister and shoot it, killing three mercs instantly and sending the last one to the ground, where he received a shot the head from Zaeed when he casually strolled up to him.

Giving an all clear, Shepard followed the walkway, turning a corner until he came up on a locked door.

Devin didn't really want to waste any more time than what was necessary, so he told the two of them that he'll head on up to the clinic, telling them that if they follow the signs then they'll get there with little to no problem.

"Alright Onyx, you can go on ahead, Zaeed and I will see what's down here. We'll catch up to you shortly, okay?"

With a nod of his head, Devin turned around and made his way to the clinic, stopping only to fight a room full of mercs from both the Blue Suns and Blood Pack.

This was pissing him off; they were keeping him from seeing his friends, and for that, they needed to go away.

Permanently.

Moving to the upper floor of some open area, Devin surveyed the battlefield below him, seeing turians and vorcha, with a couple of krogan and varren thrown in there, firing at each other. And only when there remained about half of them, did he run down the stairs, firing his rifle at the uncovered and wounded mercs.

After killing two, did he slide into cover, waiting for a vorcha to get close to his position before reaching over and grabbing it with a single arm and using his other one to violently break its neck; almost rendering the bones within into a crude paste. And with another of their men dead, all that remained was four.

Cracking his knuckles and popping his neck, Devin had only one thing to say to those who weren't dead:

"Damn, it feels good to be back in business."

* * *

Walking down the flight of stairs with his weapons holstered, Devin walked through the doors, seeing the familiar sight of mechs and that one guy who threatened him last time. Needless to say, he didn't bother looking at him this time when he walked through the door.

Walking down the aisle once again, Devin followed the path until he sees the two people that he came here to find lying down on a cot, both of whom have bandages and other things tied to them.

Smiling softly to himself, Devin takes his helmet off and approaches the two of them and clears his throat to rouse them from their small nap.

Glaz, upon seeing his friend, immediately woke up and threw both of his arms into the air, welcoming him in his usual way.

"THERE HE IS! OUR SAVIOR IN SHINING ARMOR! Or is armor shining from recent battle? Eh, matters not to me. Welcome back, my friend; it's good to see you." He tells the man, reaching out with his hand to grab the one that Devin had extended out to him and shook it.

"Glad to see a sniper wound doesn't keep you down, Glaz. Don't know what I'd have done if we lost you back there."

Hearing that made Glaz wave him off, stating that he'd have been fine regardless.

Devin merely shook his head, glad to see that his friend was as fine as rain. After that, he walked over to Tulma and sat down by her cot, seeing her open groggy eyes towards him in confusion.

"Devin…?" She asks, clearly showing that her mind and rationale was currently in the next galaxy, as she didn't realize that he was right next to her at that moment.

"I'm right here, don't worry about a thing, Tulma." He answered, patting her side as she sighs in comfort and relaxes at the familiar company.

"Where were you~? We've been… alone and bored forever!" She slurs out, causing Devin to look to Glaz in silent questioning.

Getting the hint, Glaz tells him that the doctor pumped, in his words, _"Enough morphine into her, that she'll be wasted for days."_

Devin questioned him about why the doctor gave her morphine when turians and humans couldn't even eat the same food (except for him, but no one needed to know that for now), but he responded that he used the turian equivalent.

"Used xarclan, numbing effects perfect for treating turian patients after heavy surgery, not ideal for anything else, however. Side effects… speak for themselves." Came a reply from behind them, causing Devin to look back at Mordin as he came by.

"Ah, gotcha. So how long will she be like this, doc? Because my commander has a tight schedule to keep."

"Another day, two at most, however, can use a catalyst to speed up the process. Patient will be less than pleased. Both patients here will make full recoveries; human was simple enough to fix up, turian however… challenging. Exhilarating, challenge provided an excellent way to get my mind off this plague, already have cure made, just haven't gotten to disperse it yet."

The more he talked, the more Devin ignored; too many words, too fast to keep up, and a salarian that loves to jump from one subject to another. Holy shit, is this what it'll be like when he's back on the ship? If so, he'll gladly stay here, to avoid the hell and torment his ears would be subjected to.

Hearing a throat clearing, both parties turn and sees the man, the myth, and the legend himself, Commander Shepard standing there in all of his glory, waiting for them to finish his talk with Devin.

Oh, and Zaeed is there too.

"Let me stop you right there, doc, this here is my commander and he'd like to talk to you." Devin tells him, sending the salarian off with his companions so that they could discuss business with each other.

Sitting back down, Devin shook his head in disbelief at the salarian.

"Holy hell, does he ever stop talking?"

Hearing that made Glaz laugh, telling him that the doctor is known for his articulation, as well as his skills.

"Articulation my ass, the bastard barely uses conjunctions! Probably an ass load of commas in his sentences to replace them, if not them then an ass load of periods instead…"

"Devin… has anyone ever told you that your hair is so fuzzy? So… fuzzy…" Tulma slurs out, yet again showing her plastered state as she brings her arm up to rub the side of his head, whilst doing the weird giggling sounds that a turian shouldn't make in public.

"Glaz, record this; this will be amazing material to use against her, later on." Devin tells the man, to which he does, activating his camera and recording the whole scene unfolding.

* * *

After getting enough footage for his liking, Devin asked him how bad were their injuries, ignoring the talons that are currently raking the side of his head in favor of hearing what his friend had to say.

"For me, a punctured lung that later collapsed, quite a bit of blood loss, cuts and scrapes, and an overall ache that is dulling my senses. For her, it was worse: severed intestines, massive blood loss, cuts and scrapes as well as burns from the rocket barrage, a slight concussion, and a cut that almost punctured her stomach. The doctor told us that she was minutes away from dying, had you not brought us here. Lots of medi-gel, surgery, swearing on my end, some tears, also my end, and a sense of hopelessness. Thankfully, the doctor was able to pull through and keep her from death's hand." Glaz informed him, filling Devin with worry, fear, and anxiety at hearing how close she was from death.

He couldn't live with the thought of losing his last few friends, much less… her.

"Son of a bitch…" Is all that he could say at Glaz's revelation, flopping back into his seat entirely as the news hit him like a ton of bricks.

Reaching out and grabbing Tulma's talons that were currently, and still, combing through his hair, he gave them a slight squeeze, making her complain a little bit.

"Aww… it was fuzzy and warm… your armor is cold. Bring back the warmth."

"I'll be back in a bit okay? I promise you that much, and I will never let anything happen to you all again. Even if it kills me."

Glaz stopped him from going any further, lifting his shield system up for the man to see.

"Before you go, take your shield system and equip it. The lady here would slit my throat with my own knife if you were hurt because I didn't give it back." He tells him, motioning for him to turn around so that he could reinstall it back into its port.

With that said and done, Devin thanks him and lets go of her and stands up, walking to the other room where Shepard is currently chatting with Mordin, that is until the ventilation stops working and gains the attention of everyone in the room.

"Uh oh." Devin so eloquently says, generalizing the summary statement of everyone present.

Mordin was quick to follow up his staement.

"Vorcha have shut down environmental systems. Trying to kill everyone. Need to get power on before district suffocates." He tells them, giving them the cure along with a carnifex hand cannon to Shepard as a show of good faith.

"One more thing. Daniel. One of my assistants. Went into vorcha territory. Looking for victims. Hasn't come back."

"If I see him, I'll do what I can to help." Shepard tells him, answering the unasked question, to which Mordin was pleased.

"Hey doc, we met a sick batarian on our way here, near the entrance of the neighborhood. Do you think you can send someone to go and bring him here?" Shepard tells him, remembering to keep his word that they made to the sick man.

Bringing a hand up to his mouth, he tells him that it's risky, with the Blue Suns and vorcha still fighting, and that the district isn't secure, but nevertheless, said he would see what he can do.

"Hey guys, I love a good scientific discussion as the next guy, but don't you think that this could wait until later?" Devin tells them, grabbing his rifle and sliding in another thermal clip to emphasize his statement.

"Human is correct, can discuss theories and ideas later. Need to disperse cure. Will stay here and help as many as I can."

Now they're off to get this cure dispersed, kill some vorcha, save a naïve assistant, and turn the ventilation back on. One problem solved and two more arises.

Why can't anything ever be simple?

* * *

Well, they saved the assistant, almost killed a group of batarians, killed vorcha and krogan, and have finally arrived at the ventilation control station. Now all that remains is turning them on and dispersing the cure. Only to come head first into a problem: the vorcha who are guarding the controls.

Vorcha who were hired by the Collectors to release the plague.

"What do the Collectors want?" Shepard yells at them, making his demands quite clear for the vorcha to understand.

"Collectors want plague! You work for doctor, turn on machines, put cure in air. We kill-"

The vorcha never finished his sentence, due to the fact that there was now three holes between his eyes.

Shepard and Zaeed turns to look at Devin, who had his rifle raised, and shook his head at the man.

"What? He kept going on!" Devin weakly defended, crouching down in cover as they received gunfire in return.

For whatever reason, there were only three of them guarding the controls, which EDI, the AI, had informed them were in the back of the room after they were dealt with.

"Okay, cure's been installed, now we have to deal with the fans. Commander, I can get the one on our left, you two can get the one on the right. Afterwards, we can meet back here and go on our merry way and get the hell out of here." Devin told them, receiving a thumbs up from Shepard and a shrug from Zaeed, both seemingly accepting the proposition that he laid out for them.

Now came the fun part.

Running out of cover and leaping over a barrier, Devin slammed his boot into a vorcha, stomping its head in with little time for it to react, and grabbed his katana and started using it, firing it into a couple other vorcha before using the butt stock to bash a vorcha straight in the face, where he then proceeded to shoot it as it fell.

With only three left to finish, Devin charges at them as well, his shields now depleted and his armor now taking damage from their weapons. Too bad they're using low quality gear that can only scratch his armor and not penetrate it, they might've been able to stand a chance against him as he used his fists to throat punch one, grab another and throw them off the side of the walkway, and the last one to have its legs swept from beneath it and receive a skull crushing elbow drop.

All in all, another day and another job finished.

Walking in the room, Devin activates his omni-tool and uses it to turn on the ventilation on his side, before running out of the door after it was finished and came face to face with a charging krogan.

Or, more accurately, chest to face.

Having been thrown to the ground by the sudden appearance of the krogan, Devin tries standing up and catch his footing, only for the krogan to backhand him away, sending him to the ground again and scattering his weapons.

With only his knife left to use, Devin had to resort to going hand-to-hand with yet another krogan once more.

Dodging the kick that he had sent, Devin regained his footing and pulled his knife out, holding it in reverse grip, as he usually does, and met the charge that the krogan had opted to use once again. Only for this time to stop it dead in its tracks.

The krogan was surprised at the strength that the human before him; no human had ever stopped a krogan charge dead on with nothing but their own strength.

Devin had tried to stab him in the neck, only for the krogan to catch his hand and using his other one to hold his other one at bay by the forearm.

Seeing that this wasn't going to end anytime soon, Devin decided to play a little bit dirty.

Tossing the knife across the krogan's back from his captured hand to his other one, Devin proceeded to stab it straight into the krogan's leg, then pull it out and slash the krogan's throat open as he pulled his arm free from its grip, then finally stabs it straight into the side of its head, all the way to the hilt.

Jerking his knife free from the now dead krogan, Devin flicks the blood off of it then sheathes it, only to stop as he sees his companions staring at him in mild shock.

"Well… that's one way to deal with a krogan." Is all that Shepard says, holstering his rifle as he and Zaeed leaves the room, with Devin following close behind them as both fans were activated.

With that completed, they head back to the clinic to inform Mordin about their success.

* * *

"Environmental systems engaged. Airborne viral levels dropping. Patients improving. Vorcha retreating. Well done, Shepard. Thank you."

Devin didn't stick around to hear what else they had to say, looking around the clinic and seen the familiar face of the batarian from before, which he thanked Devin profusely for saving his life yet again, and went back to see his two friends; both of whom were up and awake. With Tulma groaning in discomfort and pain while Glaz sat there watching something from the extranet.

"Ugh… spirits take me. My damn stomach hurts." She drones out, clearly off whatever medication she was on beforehand.

"This should help." Devin says, using his omni-tool to administer some more medi-gel to relieve some of the pain she felt, and perhaps boosted the healing up a bit.

Sighing in relief, Tulma thanks him as she begins to look at her surroundings in better detail, then back to Devin and Glaz.

"How long was I out for? Looking at the bandages that are currently crushing me, it must've been quite a while." She asks them, shifting and wiggling in her spot to get more comfortable.

"A little over three days, easily, maybe four. From what Glaz told me, you would've been dead in minutes, had I not brought you here. It was… it was bad." He tells her, motioning for Glaz to inform her about the extent of her injuries, to which he obliged.

* * *

Tulma was stunned at the extent of her injuries and with the gravity of the situation that she was finally weighing on her, Tulma slumped her shoulders and shook her head, the revelation clearly taking it's toll on her yet again; how gruesome the knife wound had really been, how much damage it actually caused to her insides, and the state she was in when Devin had brought her to the clinic on the other side of Omega.

He had left Garrus alone just so that he could carry them to safety and save their lives.

"So… I was only millimeters from my stomach being torn open… wow. No wonder my guts hurt; most of them were torn or cut… well at least my uterus is intact, so children are still on the table…" She trails off, looking down at her bandages once again, only now just realizing just how bad her injuries were.

"You saved me…" She says, more to herself than to Devin, before looking back up to him and hugging him out of sheer thankfulness.

Returning the action, Devin tells her that he wouldn't have done it any other way, regardless of what people thought.

"If you two want, I can go to next room and leave you both alone for a bit; I hear there's a market for love stories like this, no? Especially ones with _happy endings_."

Hearing Glaz say that made the both of them stop and laugh at the comment, both of whom are glad to see that their friend is fine and back to his old self.

Hearing a pair of footsteps approaching the trio, they each turn and see Shepard standing there with one of his eyebrows raised in curiosity, seemingly interested in Devin's friends.

"So, this is Glaz and Tulma? Pleasure to meet both you, I'm Commander Shepard, and Onyx here," Shepard motions towards the man, "convinced me to recruit the two of you for a mission we're on. He's told me a bit about your training and abilities, and I'd love to have you aboard my team. What do you say?"

Tulma was the first to answer, agreeing with the man on the assumption that Garrus was with them, because knowing Devin, he'd have Garrus recruited on this mission as well, either willingly or not.

Glaz on the other hand, declined the offer, much to their shock and confusion.

"What do you mean Glaz? We get to stop the bastards responsible for human colonies disappearing, don't you want to be responsible for taking them down with us?" Devin asks him, looking directly into the man's eyes as he nodded, his choice being set in stone within his mind.

"Sorry friend, this last mission that we were on was somewhat a wake-up call; that, and I was wanting to go back to the Citadel and go back home to the lady, make it up to her for leaving, and with all these credits I've saved up from our exploits here, I'm sure I can make it up to her. If you'll allow it, commander, I'd like to be dropped off at the Citadel." He asks, to which Shepard nodded to him, granting his request as Glaz thanks him.

With that said and done, the six of them leaves the district, headed back to the Normandy while the commander went back to Afterlife to give something to Aria before they left the station, thankful that they're now getting of the rock and headed back to civilized territory.

* * *

Glaz and Tulma were led to the infirmary by Devin, Shepard was talking to Mordin in the briefing room, and Zaeed went back down to his quarters somewhere down in engineering. All in all, everyone was done with Omega, everything that was needed had been bought, Devin was told that Kenn had left the station and is now elsewhere in the galaxy, and best of all: the mercs believed that Archangel and his group was killed in the attack.

Devin couldn't have asked for a better outcome, and maybe he'll meet Kenn again one day. Who knows?

With Doctor Chakwas done examining his friends, she commented that they would be fine and healed up soon enough, though they really should take it easy for the time being, less they want to reopen their wounds.

Now it was Devin's turn to have a medical examination. One that he wasn't going to let happen. Not with the imulsion still in his system, and the healing factor, and being able to consume dextro-based food.

No one needed to know about those things. No one, besides his three friends.

"For the last time doc, I said no." He tells the irate woman, not budging from his decision to be left out of the medical exam, much to the doctor's annoyance.

And, as stated before, Doctor Chakwas was reasonably upset.

"I need to build a report so I know what to do to you whenever you get hurt, regardless of whatever you may think. Now with that said; remove your armor and get on the bed." She orders him, not backing down from the man stat stood before her, her eyes set in grim defiance to his wishes.

They had been going at it for the last twenty minutes, with her telling him that this needs to be done for his benefit, and him refusing her demands for his own reasons.

"The commander cannot take you on any more ground missions if you don't have a medical record." She tells him flatly, staring at him pointedly as he throws his hands in the air and exhales loudly, keeping himself in check to keep from screaming.

"Fine, god dammit! On one condition, though."

"Yes?"

"Doctor/patient confidentiality: what you see and discover stays in your head, no one else will find out, and did you at the very least sweep the room and your medical terminal for bugs? Because if you didn't, then I'm walking out that door right here, right now!" He tells her, laying down his condition and crossing his arms across his chest, waiting for her answer.

"Very well, yes what I see and find will stay with me, unless it is life threatening, then the commander will have to be made aware. And yes, the first two days of us having this ship was spent getting rid of any bugs we found; the entirety of the infirmary has been swept clean, from top to bottom, my terminal included." She tells him, placating his worries and fears about their organization getting ahold of his biological data.

People like him working for people like them should never exist.

After finishing that, Devin nods and removes his helmet and sets it on the floor next to the open bed, then follows with the rest of his armor.

"Could you at least put up the privacy cover please? I'm literally in nothing but a pair of boxers and a shirt." He asks her, to which she obliged and did as he requested.

Having to lie down and wait while she began the medical procedure, Devin resigned himself to keeping quiet and staying still, the whole situation reminding him about when Grellik had to do this exact same thing.

* * *

After the procedure was done, Devin had gathered his armor and went through the process of putting back on, glad that he was back in it and went to the mess hall to grab some food.

After he left, Chakwas was going through the medical analysis over and over again; her eyes going through the information gathered from her examinations, clearly in disbelief at what she had discovered exactly what lies within his system, or more accurately, what is clinging to his system… something parasitic. That and everything else that she had uncovered through her tests.

He shouldn't be alive; much less be human.

She had sighed and rubbed her temples, attempting to relieve the headache that was forming from what she had found inside of Onyx. At least it didn't seem to be harming him at the moment, or at least for now.

"Maybe I should have listened to him after all." She mumbles to herself, sighing as the headache was now hitting her in full force at the sheer absurdity at the information that she had gathered from him.

Deciding that whatever the mass in his system was wasn't putting his health at risk any time within the foreseeable future, Chakwas decided that Shepard didn't need to know about his... condition and that she will continue to monitor his health, should he ever come back and receive more medical aid.

At least there's two more people here to keep her company, she always did love a good conversation.

* * *

**And that is the end of this chapter, I hope that you all enjoyed it and that you all have a great week. Tell me how I could improve upon in this chapter, or just leave a comment about your thoughts; either one works for me.**

**Like I said, some of you may be disappointed about Glaz leaving the crew behind, but like I said before, trust me. He'll be back, better than ever and Tulma should be good to move and walk around whenever they get to the Citadel, she isn't one to be stuck sitting down on her ass all day. Oh and Devin recording the scene with Tulma being drugged up will be used later on in the story, and I'm talking LATER on.**

**Other than that, not much else to say about this chapter. I hope the pacing was good, the time well spent, and etc.**

**See you all next Monday, and I hope that you all have a great week.**


	8. Phoenix Rising

**Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week has been good to you since last update; mine has improved and we're all doing better here. One more chapter to go before we arrive at the Citadel and Devin to see the heart of galactic civilization, meaning he'll be meeting and seeing all these species that were on Omega except this time they're not trying to kill him. But this chapter involves Shepard recruiting a phoenix operative for his mission, and he will be one of five OC that will be recruited for the suicide mission (him, Devin and Tulma being three of the five).**

**In ME 3 multiplayer, the phoenix operative is easily in my top five favorite characters to play as, the whips and how they're used can inflict serious damage to heavily armored enemies and one shot most of the smaller ones, if you've invested in the skill tree just right. Why the Illusive Man never even sent one of these guys to Shepard's suicide squad is beyond me; they're more than skilled to be able to be put on board Shepard's ship and crew. With this in mind, I decided to add one in the story. Hope this is fine with everyone who is reading and I'll see you all next week.**

**Update on cover art: It is finished, I have seen it with my own eyes, however there are complications on getting everything transferred over and as such, it will not displayed until later on; when this will be, I don't know. It will be soon, I assure you all.**

**Review Time:**

**Blaze: I figured something like this would happen eventually, everyone experiences a chapter that can be considered boring or uneventful; it happens to everyone, me included. And the video will be use LATER in the story, I'm talking about mid to late story.**

**Archangel: Thank you for you condolences, I appreciate them, and as I stated above we're all doing better now. And glad to see that you enjoyed last chapter, here's another one for you to read! And I enjoy the pov changes as well, if the perspective is in one person's for too long, there's a chance that the writing can become stale.**

**Since last chapter, we've had over 500 views (you're all breathtaking, over 2500!), three follows and four favorites (both 26), and two reviews (16)! Thank you all so much, I am deeply appreciative of what you've given me and I hope to continue to write to your all's expectations.**

**As always, any favorite, follow, and review are greatly appreciated, but aren't needed; do any of those on your own free will.**

**Disclaimer: I own neither game franchise, only whatever characters and/or details that I add in.**

* * *

**Chapter Eight: Phoenix Rising**

So, it turns out that they weren't headed for this place called the citadel, after all. Their boss, supposedly a man called the Illusive Man, had forwarded Shepard another dossier; someone who was simply labeled as a phoenix operative. Now, Devin had no idea what a phoenix was, nor what their role was in their organization.

If you ask him, he'd tell you that whoever it was had to be skilled if they were coming onto the Normandy.

And that brought him to the mess hall, seeing that both Shepard and Miranda were there conversing about the new addition to their squad; besides him. She still wasn't happy that he was here, but he didn't care what she thought.

"So Miranda, mind telling me about this new guy, and while you're at it, what a Phoenix operative is?" Shepard asks the woman, seeing that she was currently reviewing a data pad with the man's credentials, before looking at him and responding.

"A Phoenix operative is one of Cerberus' programs that trains biotics, both adepts and vanguard classes, to become frontline shock troopers capable of utilizing their biotics to be channeled through biotic whips and lashes in ways that would be on par with a squad of asari commandos. Given enough time, resources, and man power, they would give the turian Armiger Corps a run for their money. They're good commander, but they're cocky and arrogant." She explains, handing the man in question the data pad so that he could review the information for himself.

Continuing where she left off, Miranda tells them that the person they're picking up was a man named Tyler, his last name not being known to her at the moment, and that he was a biotic outfitted with the L4 implant that Cerberus provided to him.

"He's good commander, and with his armament, he's able to pull people out of cover and from around corners into the open. In an enclosed area, his whips can inflict massive amounts of damage to any target close enough the be hit by his biotics. I've met him a couple of times, commander, and he is the worst out of all of them."

Accepting the pad, Shepard skims over it, reading only the essential information, before setting it down and calling on EDI, the ship's AI, and telling her to inform Joker to head for Helios station within the Creta System (**I don't even know if this is an actual system, so if it is then whoops**), because the Citadel is going to have to hold off for a bit, so that they can pick up the new addition to their squad.

"Roger that commander, as if we didn't pick up a few strays already, we can go get another one; only if you clean up after him." Came the snarky remark, causing the man to shake his head.

"Now Joker." He sternly tells the man, the unvoiced threat hanging in the air noticeable enough for everyone to see it.

"Fine, fine. You're the boss."

With that said, the man pilots them to the nearest mass relay to take them to their destination.

"What do you mean the worst? If they're as good as you say, then he should be skilled enough to be on my ship and my crew."

Miranda sighs, shaking her head at having to talk about the man even more than she has to.

"He's one of the best, arguably the best phoenix operative we have in service; he's just insufferable, commander." She explains, not giving the man a chance to retort via an icy glare.

Shrugging her off, Shepard had resorted to small talk between the three of them, asking them all sorts of questions about themselves, personal lives, and their opinions on the mission about how they see it going.

"Well, if you ask me, the Collectors are fucked; I mean, from looking at these dossiers, we've got this krogan warlord that also is a scientist with centuries of experience, my ass, her, Jacob's military experience, the doctor who doesn't know how to keep his damn mouth shut, Garrus, and Tulma's cabal experience, and Zaeed's old ass, I think we have a decent squad with a diverse skill set; though it wouldn't hurt us in the slightest to get more people on board. Know what I mean?" Devin tells him, listing the facts that he sees about their current position on the table for them all to see. And Shepard had to agree with the man on that; the more people they had, the more likely they are to succeed on their mission.

"Good point Onyx, and continuing on from that; you have any ideas on upgrades for either the ship or the crew? Any little bit helps."

Stopping to think for a moment, Devin's mind goes back to his data chip and all the weapons and other schematics that are on it, but knowing what those weapon's capabilities are and what they can do to this humanity, he decides against telling the commander about them.

"Sorry commander, I've got nothing. Come back to me later, I'll see if I can't think of something then." He tells the man, seeing the commander nod at him in return, thanking him for later if he does come up with something by then.

"What about you Miranda? Anything that you can upgrade for us, or even yourself?"

The woman seems to look up in thought, seemingly thinking of ways that she can use whatever upgrade she can get, before telling him that she does have one in mind, but they don't have enough resources available at the moment to research it.

"I'll see about our resource problem, no worries. After all, I always wanted to probe Uranus…" He tells them, muttering the last part to himself so to avoid scrutiny by the occupants of the table.

Yeah, Shepard was still a child at heart sometimes.

"Alright, I'll be on my way down to give Kenn and Gabby their couplings for the drive core, down in engineering. Toodles." He says, standing up and leaving the two of them alone in the mess hall.

Standing up to avoid the inevitable questioning from the woman, Devin stretches his back and heads for the elevator, ignoring the questions that were now headed his way.

"When will you answer the damned questions?" The woman asks him, clearly not used to not getting what she wanted.

"Never."

And with that, he closes the doors on her, turning to the display and headed for the armory to see Jacob's progress on making his weapon's more ammo; because he gave the vindicator and the eviscerator to Shepard, Devin had given Jacob whatever was left of his ammo.

No way in hell that he'll get rid of them; he'd rather be castrated than get rid of his babies.

Walking through the doors, Devin makes a right turn, making sure to ignore the woman who is now questioning him about doing a psychiatric evaluation on him. His response to her was similar to him saying that if he told her what exactly was wrong with him, she'd need a psychiatrist herself.

Now with that out of the way, he strode through the doors, catching Jacob's attention as he walked up to him.

"Ah the man who I was looking for. So, what's the situation for my ammo; good, bad, somewhere in between?" Devin asked him, opening the armory locker with his weapons stored inside and grabbing all of them, before setting them down on the workbench in the back.

Jacob shrugs at the man, telling him to follow him to the opposite side of the room where the built-in fabricator is currently in-use.

"Well, I had to deconstruct two of the magazines for your rifle and about ten bullets from it as well, got ahold of a couple of those speed loaders for your magnum, as well as the four shots you had left for it, and your shotgun shells… all seven of them. Sorry, but I had them all deconstructed as well just so the system can be configured here to produce them. And I've got to say this; those things are some mean looking rounds. And the magazines designed for your, what was it called, a lancer? Yeah, those are unique; how it can fit ninety rounds in it with a gap running through the middle is pretty cool."

Realizing that he's running on with his sentence, the man gets down to business as to why Devin is there.

"Sorry, not too often you get to hold these old ballistic weapons. Anyways, with everything ready in the system from all that I had deconstructed and scanned, I should be able to produce you anything that you need for them; from brass, plastics, lead, and even the gunpowder. So, with that being said, you shouldn't have to worry about running out of ammo anytime soon." He finishes, showing Devin a neatly organized pile of lancer mags, gnasher shells, and boltok speed loaders. And to the side, there's a couple of small ammo boxes, each filled with each type of weapon's particular ammo.

Devin had a grin on his helmeted face, happy to see and hear that his ammo worries are no-more. Oh, he'll definitely see about getting a longshot rifle, hell even the one-shot cannon, off of his data chip. Because, with the ammo concern now eliminated, he can use all of the weapons inside that glorious chip.

Even perhaps, if he truly wanted to ruin someone's day, the silverback exosuit… all he needs is a reliable source to make one…

Thanking the man for what he did for them, Devin tells him that for what he did for him, he'll let the man shoot his guns a few times and that he might even let him use the chainsaw.

"Shit, I wouldn't mind that at all just name the time and place." Jacob answers, a smirk splayed across his face as he nods his heads, clearly enjoying the thought of getting a chance to shoot these weapons.

"Damn straight Jacob, appreciate what you did for me man. Talk to you later." He tells him, receiving a nod from the man as he went back to doing whatever he was doing.

Now, walking through the corridor that lead to the briefing room, Devin decides to walk on through the doors, finding a seat that looks comfortable enough (and sturdy enough to hold his weight) and takes it. Looking at the table with the communicator embedded within it, Devin decides that it was time to speak with the robotic lady that was the Normandy's AI: EDI.

"Hey EDI, you there?" He asks aloud, knowing that she could probably hear him, given how she had access to most of the ship's systems.

A large, blue holographic figured appeared on the table, lighting up as Devin heard her speak.

"Yes Onyx, I can hear you. Is there something you need assistance with?"

Shaking his head no, Devin takes his helmet off and sets it down on the floor next to him, leaning back into his chair with his right arm resting on top of the back support.

"Nah, everything's fine, no need to worry. Just trying to make small talk with you, is all; it isn't everyday that you get to talk with a genuine AI, so I thought I'd just hold some conversation with you. With that being said; how are you doing, how has your day been so far?" He asks her, not knowing how to treat a legitimate AI, besides an actual, living person.

EDI response was one that Devin was somewhat expecting.

"All systems are within their targeted ranges; no faults or failures are detected within the ship. And I am an AI, we do not have the necessary glands or emotions that are needed to facilitate emotions." She informs him, in the process of making Devin groan in frustration.

Seems as if she's one of _those_ AI's.

"All right, how about this; has anything happened today that would have made today a miserable experience for us organics?" He asks her, wording his sentence carefully so that the AI would answer in a way that he can use for her to understand what he meant.

Pausing for a moment, EDI tells him that nothing has happened since they left Omega a couple of days ago and that everything is fine.

"There you go, that's a good day EDI. Nothing happened to us that would've been bad, nothing out of the ordinary, and everything is a-okay. That's what I meant when I asked you if you were having a good day."

EDI paused a few moments longer than previously, doing calculations and running scenarios about what she has been told, then continues.

"I see… thank you Onyx, for the extra information you've given me; I can use it to better my programming for smoother interactions between myself and the crew." She tells him, obviously pleased with the outcome, even if she couldn't express it.

This'll take time, that much was obvious to the man, but it was time that he was willing to spend; having spent time with the Jack bots back home made him fascinated with robotics and the things that came with the subject, but having to fight in a war for your survival made your hobbies be put on hold until further notice; meaning permanently.

"Hey, it's no problem EDI, I'm happy to help whenever I can. With that being said, if you ever have any questions about human behavior, ask me; I'd love to answer them, or perhaps even the commander would as well." He tells her, gaining an affirmative from the machine as she logs him out for their session.

"Ah… peace and quiet." Devin mutters under his breath, content with sitting there in the silence that had permeated throughout the room.

Only for said silence to be taken out back behind the shed and shot in the head. **(Heh, that rhymed)**

Shepard had contacted him via omni-tool, telling him to meet them at the bridge to get ready for the upcoming recruitment mission, because he still wants to get an idea of how he fights. Even though he was already on a mission with him, Devin didn't have his COG weapons and to the commander that means that he wasn't fighting at his full potential.

"Roger that commander, on my way right now." He tells the man, standing up and popping the various joints in his body, and heads for the door.

"Before you show up, head to Mordin's lab, he has an omni-tool waiting for you there. I was talking to Tulma and she had told me that you had a civilian-grade omni-tool. With that being said, he'll give you one that is lightyears ahead of what you've got. Okay?"

"Understood commander. Headed there now."

Well, the interruption was a blessing in disguise after all.

* * *

"Okay, so you're telling me that these abilities come standard issue with these things?" Devin asks Mordin, pointing to the different tools that are on display next to his lab equipment.

"Of course. Without knowing your background, had to pull all of them out. Lots of choices, lots of possibilities. Any more questions?" The doctor asks him, saying what he had to in a matter of seconds, leaving Devin silent so that he could catch up with whatever he had to say.

"Yeah, instead of leaving me with a specific tool, why not combine some of these abilities onto one of them, you know like make a jack-of-all-trades kind of thing? But leave out the biotic abilities; I don't use that weird space magic." He tells the man, his helmet off of his head so he could look at what was available to him.

Mordin grabbed his chin in thought, silently muttering to himself as he was processing what he was told by the man. Finishing his thought, Mordin nods to himself in satisfaction and grabs one of the omni-tools on display, before headed back to whatever it was that he had back there.

Devin didn't want to think about that weird bug thing that was in that containment area, it can fly _and_ scuttle. He ain't about that life.

Several minutes passes by before Mordin comes back, handing Devin the omni-tool and nodding at him.

"Found that you would be most useful with abilities from soldier and engineer classes. Carnage shot, concussive shot, and overload being a couple examples. Go ahead use it, the commander wouldn't want me to keep you waiting." He tells him, going back to doing whatever it was that he was doing with his equipment, leaving Devin to remove his omni-tool to replace it with the newer and more advanced version.

"Thanks doc, seeya later."

Now he can't wait to test out what this baby has in store for him; all the possibilities running through his head are making him smile more and more.

Today is a good day.

* * *

With his hear gathered, Joker flying through the Mass Relay, and Shepard with Miranda waiting for him in the hangar, Devin steps off the elevator and heads right for the shuttle that the two are standing by, recognizing that it would be their transportation to and from this station.

"You get everything ready, Onyx? If so, head on in and we'll be right behind you." Shepard tells him, which Devin nods and steps inside the shuttle and takes a seat, watching as the others file in behind him.

With everyone seated, stocked, and ready to go, the pilot activates the thrusters and begins the startup procedures. And with EDI lowering the hangar doors, the pilot lifts the shuttle into the air, guiding it out of the hangar and the Normandy entirely, then shoots off towards the station; as the Normandy stayed well away from their drop off location.

"So Miranda, tell me about this space station." Shepard tells the woman, which she then brings up her omni-tool and pulls up the information that Cerberus has on it.

"Helios Station is a mining and processing station that mines and refines both common and rare earth metals for numerous companies around the galaxy. As the name suggests, it is a human ran station, however there are other species here as well. Why our man is here, however, remains to be seen." She explains, closing her omni-tool and looking at the two men sitting across from her.

Nodding at the information that she had given them, Shepard had asked her if there were any civilians still within the mining station, and if there are, would their target have been seen by any of them.

Responding with a nod of her head, Miranda informs him that yes, their target would've been seen by a few of the workers and that he isn't known to be stealthy at all.

"The man is quite possibly the living embodiment of the phrase _'bull in a China shop'_ commander." She remarks, crossing her arms as a scowl graces her lips.

Then Devin put in his two cents, because why not?

"Aww commander, I think our baby girl has a crush!" He loudly exclaims, his voice dripping with obvious humor.

All that he received from that a laugh and a growl in return, Shepard smiling at the sight of Miranda seething at the man in silent wrath.

"I. Will. End. You. Painfully."

Standing up and shrugging off the threat, Devin grabs his weapons and holsters them, striding up to the door as the shuttle pilot finally made his way through on of the large entrances that the station has to offer them and lands the craft.

With the doors opened, the three of them steps out and into the docking area, stopping only to see the front door of the shuttle open up with, revealing a middle-aged man with a grey mustache eating a bag of potato chips while casually reclining back and reading an obvious adult-themed magazine.

Shepard, with an eyebrow raised and a pointing finger, looks at the man and asks, "Who are you?"

The man in question doesn't acknowledge the question, continuing on with his actions before turning a page and responding.

"I'm Scruffy, the janitor."

"Wait, but you're the shuttle pilot; if you're the janitor, then why were you our pilot?"

"Yep."

Blinking owlishly at his question being ignored by a single word, Shepard lightly shakes his head and turns around, leaving the area with Devin and Miranda in tow, and heads towards the greeting/processing area of the station.

With that experience behind them, literally, Shepard walks up to the front desk and looks around to see if anyone was there, to which he couldn't find anyone. However, before he could look around some more, the three of them hears and loud hiss and what sounds like a raspy breath, hearing someone telling them to look down.

When the three of them does so, the see a volus staring back up a them.

"How can I help you?" He asks, activating a terminal and begins to type whatever it was that needed to be typed.

Taking this as their turn in the conversation, Shepard steps up to the desk and clears his throat, already having what he's going to ask the man in front of him.

"What is this place?"

Taking a breath, the volus tells them that they are at the main level of the Helios Mining Station, also known as the reception area. "Here we mine titanium, iron, cobalt, and other metals that the galaxy uses for everyday life." Came the response, almost as if the man had been asked that very question thousands of times.

After he was finished, Shepard asked him if he's seen a human come through here and showed him a picture of the person they're looking for, hoping that he has seen him in the last few days

The volus stares at the image for a minute before breathing in, after which he tells them that he came here a few days ago to get rid of a pirate problem that occurs at one of the lower refinery plants every couple of weeks.

"Last I heard, he went down there and hasn't came back since then. Don't know why he's here, that's for our boss to know, but he seemed to be on a mission." He comments, obviously thinking about the man that came through here recently.

Shepard looks to Miranda and nods, her doing the same gesture to signify that they now have a lead to follow.

"Any idea where we can find your boss?"

"Take the hallway to my left, continue down there and then you will make a right at the first intersection, afterwards the first door to your left will be his main office. Go on and meet up with him, I'll message him that he's got three people wishing to meet him. Have a good day."

With that out of the way, the trio follows the directions they were given, eventually making their way to whoever the boss of the station was. And when they arrived at the doors leading to the office, the doors open and reveals a middle-aged man, possibly in his early fifties, beckoning them to follow him inside.

"Come, come, Korla informed me that you'd be coming here. I'm David Walker, owner of Helios Mining and Refinery. Please take a seat, I'm sure that we have much to discuss." He tells them, sitting down at his desk as he clasps his hands together and patiently waits for them to be settled in.

Taking the offered chairs, sans Devin, Shepard clears his throat as he begins his questioning.

"Much appreciated Mr. Walker, now onto why my companions and I are here: we're looking for a man that came here recently, a human who's roughly in his late twenties, and he showed up here roughly two days ago." He tells the man, showing him a picture of the person in question to help the man recognize who they were after.

Mr. Walker nods his head and strokes his beard, humming to himself for a second before clearing his throat.

"Yes, him. I know who he is, Cerberus agent that I requested aid from, in exchange for materials that are processed here; when he came, I told him about our problems and that I'd pay him well if he got the job done, and he accepted. I know what you must be thinking, Cerberus is a terrorist organization and that I shouldn't be doing this, but I only contact a liaison for threats my security forces aren't capable of handling; with this most recent attack, they set up shop in my plant and are currently trying to spread out." The man explains, leaning back in his chair and crossing his hands as he looks at everyone sitting across from him.

Shepard raises an eyebrow at the information the man had given to him freely, and when he asked why he did that, the man explained that the woman with them was working for Cerberus, judging from the insignia that's on her uniform, and that he is open with the information because Shepard is working with them as well.

"And how do you know I'm not working for them?"

The man let out a chuckle at the question that he asked, stating that the great Commander Shepard would only work with someone like them and not for them.

"Besides, you're a good man commander. Anyways, I only tolerate Cerberus being in my station no longer than three days, any longer and I will sever all ties with them. It may not seem like much, but with how many corporations willing to consider the idea of even working with them, much less doing business, they'll listen to what we have to say. And with that operative being here for two days, I am wanting them off as soon as I can get them out of here."

Well, he had principles at least, this being what Shepard was thinking in his head; he sees why he's doing what he's doing, and he's completely serious about what he's stated.

Moving on from that, Shepard asks where he could find the man in the picture, because he's being recruited by him for a mission of galactic importance.

"Will you help us?"

The question hung in the air, Mr. Walker's face unchanging as stone, before he smiles.

"I'd be delighted to help you! After all, you saved my son from dying on Eden Prime when the geth attacked. I'm giving you three executive access for the entire station, and after you're done here, I'll even give you a shipment of materials to use for your ship commander; think of it as a way of me thanking you for what you've done for me and my wife."

And with that said, the three of them were given the operative's location and were now headed off to find their man. And after the mission, they get a little added bonus as well, so win-win.

* * *

After taking a tram to their destination, the three of them now grabs their weapons and readies them, as they are no longer within the safe areas and are now in the pirate infested one's.

"Alright, we're here to get our guy, kill a few pirates, and get out. Any questions?" Shepard asks them, neither of them making any inclinations towards asking anything.

With that said, the three of them walks through the doors and gets ready for a fight; because with the evidence of bullet holes adorning the walls, bodies strewn about the place, and what looks like objects that were crushed.

"This is the work of a Phoenix operative commander, and judging from how everything looks, it appears that the room has been like this for a couple of days." Miranda informs him, scanning the room with her eyes to take in the information that is given from what they can see.

Shepard merely whistles at the sight, casually strolling through the room as if there weren't any dead bodies around him, and goes through the set of doors that lies on the other side of the room, with Devin and Miranda following behind him.

"Looks as if they've experienced some severe forces being exerted on them, think it could be from our guy commander?" Devin asks him, eyeing a corpse that looks as if it went through an industrial crusher.

"Definitely the work of a Phoenix, no doubt within my mind." Miranda answers for him, and Devin had accepted the response with a shrug.

She knows more about these guys than he does, so he's going along with whatever she says.

As they turn a corner, Shepard motions for them to get into cover, him pointing at a group of pirates, maybe seven, who were currently scavenging whatever they could from the bodies of the dead pirates.

"Orders?" Devin asks, prepping his assault rifle for the upcoming firefight.

"Only one, Onyx; get rid of them."

"Yes sir."

With that out of the way, Devin flips off the safety off and leaps over the barrier, rushing the group with a thunderous roar of his stomping and his companion's gunfire which quickly gained the pirate's attention. With one dead and another quickly following, the rest of the group diving behind cover and quickly returns fire of their own.

These pirates must've been scrounging up weapons for whatever reason, probably to get more of them to shoot at the man they're after, but too bad that they had to run into Shepard and co; they'd definitely have lived longer.

With that observation having been made, Devin raises his lancer and begins to fire it as he advances, taking down one pirate who didn't get in cover fast enough and taking down the shields of another. With how large the rounds are, it was a simple matter of getting their shields down and finishing them off with a shot or two; easier said than done, considering the fact that the last six was now focusing fire at him. Dodging to the side to avoid getting shot, Devin's shields now deplete as one of the pirates uses an overload on him, which makes him remember what Mordin had told him about his new omni-tool.

'_Heh, they have abilities and so do I.'_ He silently contemplated, looking down at his omni-tool and activating the carnage shot and primes the charge, as he waits for his shields to finish recharge.

When the alarms stopped blaring, that's when he leaned out of cover and sent the shot out, watching as the shot curved through the air and nailed one of them and sent him straight to the ground, seemingly on fire, and into Shepard's and Miranda's lines of sight.

Long story short: he didn't last long.

With another dead, Devin takes cover once again and reloads his lancer, switching over to his gnasher to be better suited for the tight spaces and close-quarters that they will find throughout the station. Afterwards, he looks and inspects his pouches, seeing how many shells and magazines he has left for his weapons and to guess how much he'd have left at the end of the mission.

He may have a constant and reliable source for ammo, but he really doesn't want to run out right in the middle of a firefight; similar to what happened back at Omega, during the raid on their base.

"Hey commander, mind taking these cock suckers out for me? I'm pinned down and can't advance any further because of the asshole with the grenade launcher." He tells the man, taking a glance at the pirate in question with a grenade launcher sending another payload at his position, to which Devin ran and dodged his way to another barricade.

This was getting ridiculous.

"Copy that Onyx, I'll have him dead before you know it." Came the response, to which Shepard grabbed his sniper rifle and loaded a fresh thermal clip before taking aim at the main target.

Pulling the trigger, Shepard sends out his shot and drills the pirate straight between his four-eyes, killing the man instantly and relieving the pressure that he was putting on Devin, to which Devin gave a thumbs up in return.

"Hey Miranda, mind explaining why you're recording our guy out there? I mean, yeah he's a handsome fellow and all, but can't you do that back on the Normandy?" He asks the woman, making her give him a fierce glare as she shuts off her omni-tool and resumes firing her submachine gun.

"Shove it commander, I'm recording any information that I see so that I can compile it and give it to the Illusive Man."

Shaking his head at the answer, Shepard looks back through his scope and sees a grisly sight: Devin using a pirate as a living meat shield and firing that old styled hand-cannon at the remaining three combatants. After finishing one of them with a shot to the head, he grabs the meat-shield's head with both hands and casually snaps the neck, seemingly with little effort on his end. After that, one of the pirates had rushed him with an omni-blade primed and ready to gut him, only to have the arm batted away, grabbed, twisted and then thrown to the ground. Before the man could get anything out, Devin had brought his boot up and stomped the batarian's head in, reducing the left-overs to paste and blood.

With that done, the last pirate threw his weapon to the ground and raised his hands into the air, surrendering to the obviously superior forces that they were combating.

Lowering their weapons, Shepard and Miranda makes their way to the two of them and intervenes before anything could happen.

"Stand down Onyx, that's an order. Now," Shepard walks up the pirate and narrows his eyes at the batarian, "why are you and your friends on this station?" He demands, not leaving any room for the man to interject.

The batarian shook his head, having trouble getting his words out due to Devin pointing the boltok right at the side of his head.

Devin persuaded him to get a grip of himself, via pressing the barrel right up to where the temple would be and pulls the hammer back, which miraculously made the man find his words.

"Okay, okay! We came here to capture a portion of the station, use it as ransom against the boss of this place. That was three days ago, when the man didn't budge to our demands, our boss, Huran, had us expand out to coax him into accepting our demands. Two days ago, a human came here, Cerberus freak," he said that word with disdain and disgust, "just walked in here like he owned the place and when we had him at gunpoint, he just… he laughed at us and then used some sort of whips and he glowed with biotics and started using them to just- just crush us and sent us flying through the room. He killed twenty of our men in two hours. The next two days, he spent hunting us and killing us off one by one. It's easy to see that he's after our captain." He explained, informing them about everything that had happened in the past few days leading up to now.

Shepard had processed the information that he had heard; it was easy to see that the pirate wasn't lying, the body language and the way he spoke could attest to that, and from taking a glance at the surrounding areas, it was clear that biotics were used to attack them.

After he was, he pressed the pirate for more information; things like where the captain is, how many of them are left, and how many supplies are left. The pirate told them that the captain is at the far end of the facility, an elevator's ride down to the lowest level to be exact, and that there may be another thirty or forty left.

"We don't have many supplies left, hence why we're out here scavenging weapons and other equipment. We're being paired up in teams to have better odd of surviving, that damned biotic is still stalking us through these halls. The elevator has been hacked to only allow us to use it, anyone else that tries will result in the whole system to shut down. It's kept us alive this long, so I'd wager a guess that the Cerberus freak doesn't know how to bypass it." He explains, recounting events and coming up with hypotheses to help strengthen his tale.

"Then tell _us_ how we can get by the hack, I can't guarantee that you will leave the station alive, but I will guarantee that you'll most definitely live long enough to get a good head start." Shepard informed, motioning for Devin to intimidate the man into giving him what he wanted.

"It'll take more than threats to get me-"

The pirate couldn't finish his sentence, due to Devin grabbing him by the throat and slamming him against the wall, before throwing him to the ground and pinning the man with his foot, revving his lancer and bringing within inches of his face.

"You were saying?" Came the smug remark from Shepard, his arms crossed over his chest as he stared down at the squirming batarian.

"OKAY, OKAY, I'LL TALK! WE USE A CODE SEQUENCE ACCESSIBLE FROM OUR OMNI-TOOLS, THAT'S WHAT GIVES US ACCESS TO THE ELEVATOR!" Came the hurried confession, the batarian trying to push Devin's foot off of him to no avail.

Shepard hated to resort to these measures to get what he wanted, but against pirates, this was one of those few rare moments that he allowed himself to be a little bit of a renegade; him fighting on Elysium against these bastards can attest to that.

When he felt that the poor guy had enough torture, Shepard nudges Devin's shoulder a couple of times, causing him to stop his actions and back up from the downed individual.

"Can I- can I go now?" He asks them, all the fight in his voice and stance from before gone from him, as he stares at the three people that will be more than willing to kill him if they wanted to.

Raising his hand and pointing behind him, Shepard tells him that if he wants to go, then he'd better do it now; because in about the hour or so, they're going to be clearing the entire area of any pirate forces.

Taking the chance, the batarian flees the room and heads for the facility entrance, leaving the trio alone once again in the room.

"Good work Onyx, however I have to ask about the use of body shields and battlefield executions. Why? Using those tactics and maneuvers are illegal and they go against everything we've learned in the military."

Shepard was calm and level-headed when he asked his question, but it was easy to see that he was not happy at what he did during the firefight.

Devin knew that this conundrum would eventually come back to bite him in the ass, a galaxy that isn't used to having a war for the survival of your species which necessitated the use of utilizing such raw and extreme tactics wouldn't understand why he fought and killed the way he did.

"Commander," he started slowly, making sure to not raise his voice to provoke the man even more than he already has, "I fight the way I do because it has kept me alive for years now; I do things that are considered illegal, amoral, and downright sadistic because there are things out there in the universe that would do the exact same to us without any form of hesitation. You've seen this with your own eyes commander, multiple times in fact, so you of all people should be adapting to these tactics as soon as possible. I'm sorry that you have to witness my fighting style, but I won't stop doing the things I do because my life depends on it."

With that finished, the two of them remains staring at each other, one in stoic resolution and the other in silent anger.

Sighing and looking down, Shepard shakes his head and points a finger at the man, telling him that he'll accept what he does but it doesn't mean that he'll like it.

Nodding at the statement, Devin reloads his weapons and moves ahead of the group, with the two of them following behind him shortly after.

* * *

A few more rooms and a dozen or so more pirates is all it takes to reach their target, one who is currently using his whips to throw a pirate around like a ragdoll, as he is surrounded by at least half a dozen bodies.

Seemingly tired of what he's doing, the man hits the pirate with a warp before using his biotics to detonate the primer, killing the pirate almost instantly.

Sensing that he isn't alone, the man turns around and aims his pistol at the newcomers, only to lower when he sees that it wasn't anyone who would try to sneak up on him. With his pistol lowered and biotics fading, the man walks up to the trio and stops a few feet from them before speaking.

"What's up?"

Miranda had a scowl on her face, from having to be near the man and how unprofessional he is; she hated the man with all of her being.

"Are you the Phoenix operative named Tyler? If so, then I'm Commander Shepard and I'm here to recruit you on a mission to take down the Collectors." He asks the man, receiving a nod from the now named Tyler, telling him about why he's here and what he plans on doing.

"Yeah, I received a call from the higher-ups about this mission. Sure, I'll join you on your quest to save the universe, but before we do that I'm going to find this captain of theirs," he motions to a dead body, "and kill him; I was paid to do so and shortly after coming here it became personal." He tells them, crossing his arms as he finishes his sentence.

Asking him about why it became personal, Shepard is informed that the captain is someone from a long time ago that hurt a lot of people, people that he cared about.

With that said and done, Shepard tells him that the captain will be taken care of and that the elevator should work for them now, due to Miranda grabbing one of the omni-tools with the code necessary to get through the hacked controls.

"Sweet, big fan of yours by the way. Now one more thing; is that you Miranda? Damn it's been awhile hasn't it?"

"Sod off, you bastard. If it were up to me, you wouldn't have ever been in the program, much less the organization." She snaps at him, her demeanor morphing into mild anger at the man.

Laughing the remark off, Tyler tells her that one of theses days, she'll grow to like him. And when that time comes, he'll get that dinner date that he asked her about. In response, Miranda told him that she'd rather throw up in an alleyway on Omega and sign hundreds of forms and contracts on Illium than go out in a dinner setting with him.

Devin could see it clear as day that the man knew how to have fun and joke around with someone. Hell, he might actually get along with the man if he ever talked to him.

Shaking his head, Devin notices that he's being left behind and quickly catches up to the three of them.

Oh yeah, he's going to get along with the man, he's sure of that.

* * *

An elevator ride, a shootout, and more dead bodies later brings the group outside the room with the captain of the pirate forces; aka, Tyler's target.

"So, mind telling us your deal with this guy?" Devin asks Tyler, the man looking at him for a moment before responding that he's not only being paid to kill him, but it was someone that he's been looking for a while now.

"And now that I've found him, I'm gonna kill him and then we can get off this station. I'll tell you more later on, don't know when though."

Accepting the response, Devin stacks up against a wall with Miranda behind him and Shepard and Tyler on the other side mirroring his actions for a classic breach and clear maneuver.

Fairly effective, considering the last remaining pirate resistance was behind the doors, definitely with their weapons trained on the entrance.

With a countdown from three, the four of them readies their weapons and breaches through the door, busting it down from a charge that Tyler had planted on it. As they charge through, the pirates opens fire at them with whatever weapons they had at their disposal, but due to the configuration and layout of the room, there was ample amounts of cover throughout the area; probably from how the pirates had set everything up in the room, but with a lack of hindsight, they didn't set up a killing field for whoever did breach through the doors.

That mistake would cost them their lives, and the four of them knew and capitalized on that mistake.

With over a dozen hostiles on the field, each of them reloaded their weapons once again and picked their targets; Shepard choosing those in the back, Miranda taking the ones up close, Tyler going for whoever was in reach of his biotics and using them to support the other three, and Devin taking the role as the tank to take and dish out as much damage as humanly possible.

All in all, with the four of them and their capabilities, they were more than a match for the pirate forces, taking them down one by one.

"Devin, right side, two hostiles flanking us!" Came the heads up from Shepard, giving a silent order for him to get rid of them before they became a problem for the four of them.

"On it!"

Mantling over the barricade, Devin charges the two pirates while ignoring the amount of gunfire that had made its way to him since he made himself an easy target and grabs the table that the two pirates are using as cover and flips it over their heads, sending it tumbling a few feet from them.

The first one used some kind of omni-blade to attack him, some ball looking thing in place of a blade that spun like a dynamo, and the other swapped his weapon out to equip a shotgun.

Devin really didn't want to see what'd happen if that modified omni-tool would do to him if it landed a hit, so with that in mind he brought up his own omni-tool and hit the pirate with a concussive shot, staggering the man but not sending him to ground like he had hoped for. Without missing a beat, Devin brought his rifle to bear and fired it at the other pirate with a short burst of five shots, just enough to get his shields down but not fast enough to stop him from getting shot in return a couple of times by the shotgun.

Growling as his armor was now taking damage because of his shields breaking, Devin raises his rifle into the air and revs the chainsaw, intent on bisecting the man to get the shotgun out of the equation.

However, the other pirate had tackled him to the side, causing him to drop his rifle in the process, and stagger a bit.

'_Fuck me, it's never taken this long to kill two people before.'_ Devin thought angrily, smashing his elbow in the pirates back before kneeing him in the face, definitely breaking something in the process.

Grabbing the downed pirate, Devin grabs his head and smashes it against the ground a couple of times before crushing it against the floor, shaking his hands free of the gore that now covered his hands.

Grabbing his rifle and revving it once again, Devin brought it down on the other pirate, only for his chainsaw to stop inches from the man as he had grabbed a thick piece of metal to stop the sawblades from tearing him in half.

"For the love of… JUST DIE, WILL YOU?" He screamed, putting all of his strength into the lancer, successfully tearing the metal slab in half and then the pirate that lied just beneath it.

"Fucking asshole." Devin muttered, ignoring the blood and guts that now adorn his armor and turned his attention back to fighting that had somewhat died down since his scuffle began.

From the fourteen pirates that were alive, only four of them remained; three of the underlings and their captain.

Deciding to use the flank as an advantage, Devin ran down the length of the room and behind where the last four targets sat, realizing that he can use this opportunity to hurry up and finish the fight quickly so that they could all get back on the Normandy.

This is going to be fun.

* * *

With the remaining pirates dead and their captain left alive, it was time for Tyler to do whatever it was that he came here to do and go with them on their mission to stop the Collectors.

Striding up to the man, Tyler kneels down so that he's eye level with the groveling man.

"So _Huran_," Tyler said, disdain and malice lacing his jovial tone, "how have you been these past ten years? I've been _great_."

Huran, through gritted teeth, told him to go to hell.

Tyler just gave a hollow laugh in return, telling him that he's been living there for a long time now.

"You don't even remember me, do you? Well here's a hint that should jog your memory." He tells him, taking off his helmet and revealing his face to the downed pirate.

It took a few moments for the pirate to recognize him, all of his eyes squinting at him in confusion before all of them widening in shock and alarm.

"Y-you… no… no, no, no you should be dead! I SHOT YOU MYSELF!" He screams at him, desperately reaching for any weapon within his reach, but to no avail as Tyler kicks the nearest pistol away from his reach.

Standing up and activating his biotics and his whips, Tyler smiles at the man before saying the last three words that Huran would ever hear.

"I lived, bitch."

Before the man could even let out a scream, Tyler lashes him with one of his whips and uses all of his strength to slam the man against the ground, killing him almost instantly.

With that said and done, Tyler kept his end of the deal and left with the three of them, Shepard and Miranda went to talk to Mr. Walker, and Devin escorted Tyler to their new home. All in all, a successful mission, a new recruit for their ultimate mission, and everyone getting paid well for what they've done; and add in the bonus materials that they were promised at the beginning.

* * *

With them now leaving the station, Devin made his way to the med bay, intent on visiting Tulma to see how she's doing and to see how much she's recovered. When he takes the elevator down to the crew's quarters, he sees doctor Chakwas out in the mess area, having a conversation with Garrus about something from their past; evidence to support this is them talking about the events that transpired on some planet called Virmire.

Hearing Garrus talk about the nuke that went off there, Devin could hear him speaking with a tone of reminiscence; he must've lost a friend when they were there.

Chakwas nodded her head, saying that Kaiden, whoever that is, will never be forgotten and that she misses him too.

"He was a good man."

"Yes he was doctor, yes he was…"

Devin didn't want to interrupt their conversation for too long, so he only asked Chakwas if Tulma was awake and if she was able to see visitors.

"Yes, she's awake and conscious, if you want to go see her head on in; I'll be out here talking to Garrus, give you two some privacy." She tells him, much to his relief.

He's been wanting to talk to her, but with her healing up and sleeping for nearly days on end, him trying to settle in and going on missions, he just didn't have the time to see her… not when she was awake, at least.

Stepping through the door, Devin sees Tulma looking at her omni-tool and scrolling through it, almost as if she's reading something.

Taking his helmet off, he greets her wave of his hand, catching her attention as he takes his helmet off and takes a seat beside her.

"Glad to see you're finally awake, I was fixing to believe that we'd get this whole mess done before you woke up." He says, his tone joking as she shakes her head and rolls her eyes at his remark.

"Yeah, yeah, eat a _kryshka_ Devin." She tells him, laughing at same response that she had gotten from him when she said the exact same thing to him while they were fighting the Eclipse.

With their laughter subsiding, Devin asks her how she's feeling, because she really has been sleeping for almost two days straight and it was beginning to worry him.

"I stopped by a couple of times to see if you'd have woken up, but the doctor kept telling me that with the sedatives that she gave you, even if you did wake up, you'd have absolutely no recollection of what transpired. So, I've been doing my own thing really; maintaining my gear, patching up my armor, and doing whatever else I could just to get my mind off things." He tells her, his face set in worry as he looks her over.

Sighing at his statement, she tells him that she's fine and that he needs to stop worrying about what she does.

"Besides, I've been sleeping well; nothing has been bothering me and if there was, the doctor would've already taken care of anything that was wrong. Now, enough about me, let's talk about you: you don't look too good, have _you_ been sleeping well?" She asks him, noticing that his eyes are darker and that they have bags beneath them.

Shaking his head abruptly, he tells her that he has been sleeping, but since it's in an actual space ship and not somewhere on a terrestrial body, it's messing with his head.

Tulma wasn't buying that excuse for one second.

"Where have you been sleeping?"

Devin stopped at her question, asking her why does it matter where he's been sleeping.

"You look like you ingested several shot of ryncol; basically what I'm saying is that you look like hammered shit, as you humans say." She tells him, crossing her arms over her chest as she gains a look of apparent scolding their child.

Sighing at having been caught, Devin rubs his eyes as he takes a deep breath in preparation of what's about to come his way.

"The hangar… I've been sleeping in the hangar."

As expected, Tulma didn't take too kindly to that answer.

"Why are you sleeping in the hangar and not in the crew's quarters? Better yet, are you even sleeping on a bed or even a cot?"

His silence answered her question for her.

"YOU"RE SLEEPING ON THE METAL FLOOR AND NOT A BED!" She exclaims, her voiced raised in both anger and concern for her friend.

Garrus being stubborn was one thing, Glaz doing something questionable was another; but him actually putting his health at risk was going too far for her.

"I'm 30 years old Tulma, I can sleep wherever I want, however I want! Besides that, I've slept in worse conditions; literally this one time I had to use a busted and broken-down table as a bed and a cinder block as a pillow! I'm a grown man, I can take care of myself." He tells her, not wanting her to worry about him in the slightest and to look after herself for the time being.

Realizing that he's telling the truth, she gains a look of sympathy for the man; understanding where he's coming from, but not understanding why he's still doing things that is detrimental to his body.

"Devin… please go to sleep okay? There's an open bed right beside me here, and Glaz is somewhere around here; he got up earlier and said that he's going to look around the place. Please, lay down and get some sleep okay? I'm worried about you and you need the rest, especially if we're going to the Citadel next. Trust me on this, when we get there, I'll show you around the place, and maybe even let you meet my uncle. Be warned though, he is the turian councilor and we will be watched for the entire time we're there talking to him." She tells him, grabbing his hand and giving it slight squeeze to reassure him.

Devin squeezed it back and gave a small smile in return then stands up and pops the various joint and bones around his body, sighing in satisfaction as his body relaxes.

"Yeah give me a moment to get my armor off; I'm tired of sleeping in it."

With that said, Devin manages to get his armor off after several minutes and climbs into the empty bed beside Tulma, settling in it and slowly falling asleep under the warm blankets.

* * *

Not even twenty minutes later, Glaz walks through the door and begins to say something, only to stop as he notices Devin's armor at the side of the bed that he is currently sleeping in. Gaining a big smile on his face, Glaz looks at Tulma and points a finger at Devin.

"Well, you've got step one done, now all you need is steps two and three. Then afterwards, you'll be partying all night long."

"Glaz what are you even going on about?" She asks him, lowering her omni-tool to look at the man who still has that stupid grin on his face.

"Why the three steps of course! Step one is you getting him out of that armor, and step two is you getting him out of clothes, and finally step three is getting him in bed with you. I figured you knew about that already."

Sputtering after what he said finally registered within her mind, her entire face flushes a blue color as her head heats up with blood rushing to it.

Just thinking about… _those_ scenarios was wrong. Especially with a guy who could easily tear her in half, with his strong grip, large muscles and…

'_Get your mind out of the gutter, Tulma, Glaz will act on it and it'd give him for fuel to go on.'_ She berates herself, growling at the man who is now laughing at her expense.

Picking up a mug from the small table to her right, she briefly aims at the man before throwing it at him with all of her might, hitting him square in the chest and stumbling him backwards.

Holding his now aching chest, Glaz raises his other hand in a gesture of surrender, realizing that she'd throw another object at the him if he doesn't keep his mouth quiet.

"Okay… okay… shutting up now. I'm going away now, lest I face your wrath."

With that said, the man leaves the room, leaving Tulma to finish reading her online book.

"Can a girl not read her book with a man sleeping in another bed right beside her, without being teased about it…" She mutters to herself, shaking her head at what Glaz had said to her.

However, she couldn't deny herself when she was reading those romance novels between turians and humans and imagining what it'd be like. But she couldn't do that to Devin, could she?

Could she?

Sighing at the question that would most likely never be answered, she goes back to reading her book and ignoring the outside world, as she continues where she left off, she looks over to Devin and smiles at him; a type of smile that a turian would give to a potential lover.

Maybe just maybe in the future if everything goes perfect, they can be together, regardless of what anyone says about it.

* * *

**That wraps it up for this chapter! I hope that you all enjoyed reading it, because I absolutely HATED writing this chapter; I kept getting stuck on what to do and where I was wanting the chapter to go. All in all, it was a nightmare to write this. Next chapter, however, will be mainly Tulma's and Devin's pov, considering this would be the first time that Devin would ever step foot on the station and Tulma being there for the first time in months.**

**I already have both of their and Tyler's loyalty missions planned out, and I'll give a hint to each of them:**

**Tulma: familial problems.**

**Devin: imulsion problems.**

**Tyler: past problems.**

**Good luck with that last one.**

**I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you all next week!**


	9. Bright Lights, Alien City

**Hell everyone, I know what some of you may be thinking, _"Hey, this isn't Monday, why is there an update on Friday?"_ Well to answer your question: the reason why I'm posting a chapter this early is because I have no internet at my house at the moment, and I don't want to miss my deadline for weekly updates, so I'm posting this chapter today just in case my internet isn't turned on by Monday. How I'm able to post this is because I'm at my friend's house as I'm posting this. Moving on from this, I've got a special author's note for next chapter that know some people will like. Now, this chapter has our favorite characters experience the wonders that the Citadel has to offer, and we even get to see and hear a bit about Tulma's past here.**

**Since last chapter, we've had roughly 350 views (~2850), two favorites (28), three follows (29), four reviews (20), and we were even put into a community! Thank you all so much for this milestone!**

**Review Time:**

**Peanutbutter: Never in a million years. -T3M-kun**

**Mythian: Well, he is getting his training done, but having to sleep in armor, without a bed, and on a metal floor will always mess with a person's motor functions. Tulma even got onto him because of him doing this. Yes people are going to curious about him, Kalissa will not be meeting him (I don't think she'd live long enough to publish her video...), his weapons aren't needed for this chapter because there's no combat, and he will be getting more upgrades sometime next chapter or the following one. And the last one... maybe.**

**Blaze: I think the one shot would be a good replacement for the main cannon, as long as it's explosive, but other than that keep the mako the same as we all know and love. And you read my mind about the boomshot for Grunt.**

**Leman: Thank you for the review! And as for Jack, I have absolutely zero intentions for removing her or any other character from the games. Don't worry.**

**Remember that while they are greatly appreciated, follows, favs, and reviews aren't needed; do that on your own free will.**

**Disclaimer: I own neither game franchise, only the characters and/or details that I add in this story.**

* * *

**Chapter Nine: Bright Lights, Alien City**

Shepard had called everyone on the ground team into the debriefing room after they had docked on the Citadel, waiting patiently as everyone filed in and took a seat, before speaking.

"I hope everyone here had a good night's sleep, because each of you are going on leave for the day; enjoy the sights, meet new people, buy stuff, hell go as far as getting arrested, nut remember to be back on this ship by 2300. Any later and you'll get put on the Wall of Shame." He tells them, gaining confused looks from everyone, except Garrus, in the process of him finishing his sentence.

Hearing this, Joker makes his presence known via loudspeaker, due to him listening in to what's going on as usual, "Oh god, I thought he would've forgotten about that."

"Me? Forgetting the infamous wall? I'm hurt that you think so lowly of me, Joker. EDI, bring up the wall!" He orders the AI, smirking as his plan unfolds before everyone's eyes.

Only for the plan to burst into flames as EDI informs him that no such thing exists on the Normandy.

Keeping a straight face, Devin could easily tell the man was seemingly heartbroken at the revelation: the pain in the eyes are what gives it away.

"Well… damn. Eh oh well; you win some, you lose some. Anyways, in all seriousness, enjoy your all's day, have fun and relax, and for those of you with Cerberus logos on your uniforms," he says, looking at Tyler, Jacob, and Miranda, "I advise you to switch into something that doesn't have that image plastered all over it. C-Sec would arrest you, if you don't. Now… any questions?"

Seeing Devin with his hand raised, Shepard points at him and asks what his question is.

"If we're getting shore leave, what are you going to be doing? From what I've gathered, you're not going to be joining us, are you?" He asks, his deductive reasoning skills gathering the information needed from what he had said.

Shepard shakes his head, telling him that he's got too much to do before he can enjoy a little downtime for himself; having to talk to the human councilor, register and check back in with C-Sec, get his spectre status reinstated, talk to a master thief, and etc.

"So yeah, my schedule is at it's limits. I'm not worried about it, it's not like the fate of the galaxy depends on it. Any more questions? No? Okay, everyone's dismissed and the Cerberus personnel are to change their clothes."

With that said, everyone stands up and leaves the room to head out and enjoy their shore leave; Garrus deciding to stay with Shepard and go with him to do whatever he needs done, Zaeed headed of to who knows where and the same goes for Mordin, while Devin, Glaz, and Tulma all grouped up together to see each other off one last time.

* * *

Walking into a tunnel with glass basically covering every surface area, Devin didn't know what to expect when he came to this space station: it was breathtaking and easily the most massive man-made object he's ever seen. The only thing that remotely came close in size was the entirety of the Hammer of Dawn satellite array, and even then, those were about the size of a thrashball stadium and there was a lot of them.

Stopping at the end of the tunnel, Glaz speaks with the guard and gives the man his credentials and continues on his merry way, as does Tulma. When it was his turn, however, the entire room's sensory equipment started blaring an alarm and the scanners themselves became a red laser instead of the blue.

Hearing this, Tulma stops and looks around before turning her attention to the C-Sec officer currently working at the terminal.

"What seems to be the problem, officer?" She asks the man, the turian standing there looking up at Devin and his terminal in confusion.

"Well ma'am, it appears that uh… your companion here doesn't _exist_; the scanners aren't picking up any matches within the human database, and the several unregistered and highly _illegal_ gene mods are also a big issue, as well as the fact that the armor he has on has no known manufacturer." He tells her, getting ready to call for some backup to arrest the man; because with his size and sheer intimidating aura, he'll definitely need the backup.

Quickly defusing the situation, Tulma holds up both of her arms and tells the guard to wait a minute and that she'll explain.

"My companion here is actually my personal body guard and as such is the case, in order to protect me from any threat, he was supplied with gear and other necessities that would ensure my safety, considering I'm family with the turian councilor." She tells him, bluffing her way through the explanation in hopes that her familial status and reasoning were enough for Devin to not get arrested.

The turian was silent for a moment before accepting her answer, manually overriding the system so that they could pass through the checkpoint with no more errors.

"Sorry for the inconvenience ma'am, sir. Have a nice day and welcome to the Citadel." He tells them, resuming his duties at the terminal as the two of them walks by.

After passing through and leaving the area, Tulma breathes out a sigh of relief and shakes her head, turning to look at Devin as he looks back at her.

"Damn, we got lucky back there." She tells him, going to the railing at the edge of the level they were on and leans on it, gazing out and watching the sky cars pass by.

"Yeah, no kidding. Thought for sure I was going to get arrested. Thanks for the save back there, I don't know what I'd have done if I did get arrested, if you didn't come up with that excuse. Besides ending up on the wall of shame." He tells her, standing beside her as he takes in what this level of Zakera Ward had to offer.

It was far cleaner and less of an eyesore than Omega was, that's for sure.

"Think nothing of it. Besides, me doing that pales in comparison to you actually saving my life."

"And mine as well." Glaz tells him, coming up from behind and gaining both of their attention.

Chuckling to himself, Devin takes his helmet off and smiles at the man before reaching his arm out in a handshake.

"I guess this is goodbye, eh Glaz?"

Glaz smiles back at him, before slapping his hand away, "Handshakes are for strangers, give me hug; in the time I've known you, I come to see you as more than a fellow comrade in arms… I see you as the brother I never had, you and the lady here are welcome in my home whenever you want." He tells him, hugging the giant man and turian in farewell as he turns to get in the sky car.

"One more thing! Remember this Tulma: _ALL NIGHT LONG!_" He bellows, pelvic thrusting with each word in the air as the debacle caught more than a few stares and looks.

With both of them laughing at his antics, they each wave goodbye to the man as he steps into his ride and takes off, headed wherever his home was.

Devin will miss him, that's for sure.

* * *

With the two of them in standing in silence, Tulma looks back at him and asks him if he'd like to go with her to a few places; maybe even show him around to some of her favorite areas.

With him shrugging his shoulders, he agrees with her and told her to lead the way.

Hopping into a sky car from the rapid transit station, Tulma types in their destination as Devin takes a seat in the passenger seat, letting her do whatever she needed due to her being here on numerous occasions.

With that done, the flying taxi takes off and heads to the destination that she requested: The Presidium.

Devin took his helmet off so that he could see the sights below him with his own eyes, his mouth agape as stares into what is easily the most beautiful place he's ever seen.

"It's… amazing… just amazing. I wonder if this is what life was like before the Pendulum Wars started on Sera; crystal clear and clean water, fresh air, and the people all enjoying their lives… mom would've loved to see something remotely close to beautiful as this." He said aloud, taking in the view as Tulma looked at him in sympathy.

"Enjoying the view?" She asked him rhetorically, seeing him and seeing his face lit up with child-like wonder as the very new sights and sensations are shown to him.

"How could I not? With a view like this, Chairman Prescott himself would be jealous. We had nothing like this back home… nothing…" He said, trailing off at the end as his features fall at the thoughts of what his home looks like in comparison to a space station.

Tulma knew that he'd never seen anything like the sights that the Citadel had to offer, with his planet in near ruin and being in the same state as Tuchanka, and the more she sees him like this, the more it hurt.

She, like most people, took the sights and what the wards had to offer for granted; but to him, it was like walking into a dream.

With the sky car now arriving and landing at its destination, Devin put his helmet back on and stood up when the doors opened and made his way next to Tulma, wondering where else she was going to take him next.

She showed his the Krogan statue, honoring the krogan who fought and died during the Rachni Wars, the esteemed Presidium lake, and the prothean sculpture of one of the mass relays.

"Is it me, or am I hearing a faint buzz?" He asked her, looking up and at the statue that was in front of him.

"Well considering it is an actual, fully functional mass relay, I wouldn't be surprised if it did that. Shame that it isn't active anymore."

With that said, they both spend the next couple of hours walking throughout the areas; seeing what sights there were to behold, trying new and exotic foods (more so for Devin than Tulma), and overall just spending their time enjoying their shore leave.

* * *

Devin was enjoying the attention that he was getting from the children of several species; when he and Tulma wandered into the recreational area of the park, his size and armor were surely going to bring in some attention. Who would have thought that it'd be the kids wanting to see what he could do? There must be over a dozen of them surrounding him, while Tulma takes a seat on one of the many benches that dot the area and films the events.

"He's really great with the little ones, isn't he?" She hears a soft and melodic tune to her right, looking over and seeing an asari sitting beside her and watching the spectacle that is unfolding before their eyes.

Stopping the recording there, Tulma agreed with her that Devin is an extremely caring and gentle person when he wants to be, but is always like that when around children.

"Besides that, it's going to take more than a dozen of them to stop him anytime soon; the most they're doing is slowing him down. I'm surprised the parents are even allowing this to happen." She says, watching as he lifts a human and a turian child up into the air and onto his shoulders.

The asari hums in thought, seemingly agreeing with her statement about the man.

"They trust that he wouldn't do them any harm, you can see it in their body language. Such a kind, gentle, and noble soul he is… it brings me sorrow to see one such as himself live through pain and torment."

That response came from left field and slapped Tulma right across the face, causing her to shake her head and look at the woman right beside her in shock.

Her shocked expression turned into one of incredulity as she sees that asari is actually Sha'ira the Consort herself.

"C- Consort… I didn't know it was you." She tells the woman, apologizing afterwards for not paying attention to her surroundings and the people who were in them.

Smiling, she tells her that she has no reason to apologize and that she can simply be herself.

"Besides, it is my last day on the Citadel anyways; came here to enjoy the scenery one last time before I depart. Enough about me, would you like a session right now? It's completely free and it'll be my last one, should you choose to accept my offer." She asks her, patiently waiting for the response that she'll get from the stunned turian.

With how much money and how much time you've got to have to even see her for such a thing, she'd be crazy to refuse her offer.

"Of course, I accept your offer."

With Sha'ira smiling warmly at her answer, she looks back at Devin before speaking.

"Tell me about him. I can see that you two care for each other."

Nodding at the comment, Tulma begins to tell her everything about Devin (except the stuff that she didn't need to know) that she knew; his mannerisms, his personality, his name, and even a bit about his personal life.

Finishing her long and drawn out conversation about the woman, Tulma decides to paraphrase it all into one short paragraph.

"Devin cares deeply for his friends, and treasures his family; he has an older brother and two younger ones, so I guess that is why he's so gentle around children. He didn't live a good life at all but he made do, and that's one thing I admire him for: his will to strive for bigger and better things."

Humming at the information she heard about the man, Sha'ira takes one look at Tulma and says something that took her by surprise yet again:

"Admiration? Or is it somewhere more along the lines of love?" She asks straightforwardly, picking up the emotions that Tulma was putting into her answers and descriptions about the man that was now splayed out on the grass with the children piling on top of him.

Sighing at having it thrown out into the wind, Tulma drops her head and sags a bit, looking down at the sidewalk in shame.

"It is love… I love him, but he doesn't even know it. He could be with any woman he wants: a human woman and an asari would be able to eat the same foods as him, be able to be one with him without the fear of having an allergic reaction, and even bear his child… I can't eat human food, I can't sleep with humans without special medications and even if I did, I'd have to get an appointment at the hospital soon afterwards, and I can't give him a child, besides adoption… he'll be better off with someone other than me." She admits, having to say it out loud hurt her even more than it did when she was keeping it to herself.

Placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, Sha'ira smiles warmly at her and motions her head to where Devin is.

"Does that look like someone who would ever leave you for another woman? He cares for you, possibly even loves you as you do him, but if you want to be with him, be _there_ for him; take it slow and no matter what happens between now and then, the wait will be well worth the effort. And perhaps when the time comes, consummate your relationship with him, and when the time comes when he needs you the most and when you need him, you both will find your resolve within each other. On this, I can assure you." She explained to her, smiling warmly yet again to her and back at Devin who has now broken free from the pile of children and is currently chasing them around, all the while their parents laughing, smiling, and filming the events as he continues.

Straightening her posture, Tulma smiles to herself at what she was told, before looking to the Consort and thanking her for telling that to her.

"I guess I needed to hear it from someone else, rather than hearing it from myself. And as you said, the wait will be worth the effort. Thank you Consort, this means everything to me."

"There's no need to thank me, I was merely doing my part to help you find the answers that you were seeking for. Have a blessed day, Tulma Sparatus, and may good fortune come your way."

With that said, Sha'ira stands up from the bench and walks away, leaving the area and the Citadel in its entirety and Tulma by herself, except this time she isn't hiding her fears and anxieties; she's showing her commitment and her strength to see that they would be together at the end.

She was positive about this.

* * *

"I don't know man, they just kept coming: I'd get one off and two would take their place!" Devin exclaims laughing as he waves goodbye to the children as he and Tulma were leaving the park.

He had been playing with the kids in the park for the past hour, their parents seemingly not worried about a seven-foot-tall, heavily armored, giant human letting them have fun with him; honestly it was kind of weird that none of them were remotely worried that he was a stranger with their kids.

After speaking with a couple of the parents, it turns out that it was actually a school field trip to the park for the day and that the parents were welcomed to come along as chaperones, which they told him that he may have been a stranger but the kids just wanted to play and have fun; especially with _'a giant cyborg human'_, as one of them had called him. After he was done talking to them, C-Sec had sent a couple of officers to investigate some reports from a concerned passerby about this. The parents of the children came to his aid and placated the officer's enough that they accepted their answers.

With that now behind them, Tulma laughed at what he said, leading him to the large express elevator that lead to the Council Chambers and their offices.

"I thought it was nice to see; not everyday you see someone with your stature with so many children around him." She replies, stepping into the elevator with Devin as she hits the button to send them up.

"Yeah? Well, I guess having two baby brothers doesn't really help the fact that I did to them what I would do to Anthony and Benjamin; those two always wanted Clay and I to wrestle with them."

Tulma nodded her head in agreement, waiting for the elevator to get to the top; but since these are the elevators on the Citadel, they're moving at a snail's pace.

After a few minutes, Devin groans and leans up against the wall as he asks her how much longer until they're at the top, to which Tulma shrugs.

"Honestly, it varies from time to time: sometimes a minute or two, and others nearly ten. They really need to get someone to fix these problems soon; I always hated riding these things to and from the top of Citadel Tower. Dad would always bring me with him, whenever he came to see my uncle for business concerning turian military affairs. Why he brought me? I don't know." She told him, crossing her arms as she watches the elevator ascend and the scenery slowly shrinking the higher they got. Emphasis on slowly.

Devin was intrigued by this, mainly due to him not knowing much, if anything, about her parents or her extended family.

"Speaking of that, why are we headed up here?" He asks her, looking at her as she becomes unconsciously nervous at the question being asked.

"Well…" She starts but trails off, rubbing her arm as she tries to find a way to explain her reasoning for why she's here and why she brought him; she honestly didn't think about Devin coming with her.

It slipped her mind until they were already on the elevator.

"Hey, you can tell me okay? I'm not going to judge you for it, if you didn't plan on taking me with you."

With him saying that to her, she sighs and nods her head.

"Sorry, I'm going up here to see my uncle for a few things: mainly to see how my family is doing. Well, since you're already here, there's no point in backing out now. Just let me do the talking and everything will be fine, okay?" She asks him, getting ready for the elevator to come to a stop soon.

"Something tells me that he doesn't take too kindly to humans that much, does he?"

"Not really, no. He doesn't think you all are as bad as the galaxy points you out to be, mainly because Commander Shepard saved their collective asses two years ago. Anyways, enough talking, we're here."

Stepping out of the elevator, Tulma leads Devin out into the foyer area, where the turian embassy is now located (**think of area that you go in numerous times in ME 3 to meet with Councilor Anderson/Udina except with turians instead**), after the previous one was destroyed a couple of years ago, and almost immediately did they receive practically everyone's eyes the moment they stepped out.

Creepy as hell, if you ask Devin.

Without missing a stride, Tulma makes her way a single flight of stairs and climbs them with Devin in tow, seemingly knowing exactly which office she's going to. From what she had said in the elevator, she most likely did.

Stopping at a door with two armed guards on both sides, Tulma tells the two of them who she is and why she's here, to which they both allow her to pass and go through the doors without incident.

Devin on the other hand, wasn't as lucky.

"Uh, excuse me." He tells them, trying to step through the doors, only to receive two rifle barrels raised and pointed straight at his face.

"You aren't allowed within the area: leave now." The one on his right orders him, clearly labeling him as the one in charge.

Devin raised an eyebrow at the man, before laughing and shaking his head at the order.

"Sorry pal, but I'm only going to tell you this once: get your weapons out of my face, or I'm going to force feed them to you and your fuck buddy here." He casually tells him, pointing at the other guard in question.

With that being said, the other guard gets ready to put him in cuffs and haul him away, only to be stopped as Tulma walks back out of the door and sees what's about to happen.

"Both of you stand down! He is my personal guard and with you both hindering his mission to ensure my safety, he is legally allowed to do whatever it takes to get to me, up to and including killing both of you should he feel that you were threatening my safety; anything he does to you two will be sanctioned the councilor himself. As such, step aside and let him through, because his threats are actually factual; I've seen him do far worse to people who were far more important than you two." She orders them, getting straight into the leader's face as she stares him down.

With the man stumbling over his words, he quickly gains his words as he tries to explain himself and his partner.

"Ma'am, we cannot let someone such as himself within the office; besides that, you will be guarded by the councilor's personal guard as well. As such, he does not need to be within the room with you." He explains, trying to reason with the angry woman as she isn't going to listen to him.

Growling and with her biotics flaring, Tulma calmly, but forcefully tells him to let him in the room right this instant.

The situation was going to deteriorate quickly, had it not been for the new addition to the conversation telling everyone to calm down.

Looking to the source, they see that it was Councilor Sparatus himself standing behind Tulma and looking at the four of them with annoyance.

"Let the human through now, Larentus; if my niece tells you that he is her personal guard, then you are to let him be with her at all times. Am I understood?" He asks the man, receiving a protest in return about the security risks that it poses to their safety.

"Do I make myself clear, _captain_." He said more forcefully, saying the man's rank instead of his name to get his point across.

Begrudgingly accepting the order, both guards lower their rifles and apologizes to Devin, telling him that he is free to enter the room.

Walking through the door, Devin sees that the councilor is now sitting at his desk again with Tulma taking a seat at the opposite side of him. Taking this as his cue to sit down as well, Devin takes a seat beside Tulma and patiently waits for whatever it was that Tulma had planned.

He didn't have to wait long, as the councilor beat her to the punch.

"May I ask what this visit is about, Tulma? The last time you were here was when your father…" He stops and stays silent, looking at Devin and back to her in silent questioning.

Easily picking up what was being asked, she tells him that it's okay to talk about everything out loud with him present, she trusts him with her life.

"Really now? You trust this human," he says, motioning towards the man in question with his head, "with your life? May I ask why you do so?"

"Because, he _saved_ my life. When I went to Omega to become a vigilante, don't give me that look, we were attacked by all three major mercenary groups located there. A Blue Suns merc stabbed me straight in the gut with his knife, tearing and slicing up nearly everything within; my stomach and uterus were barely missed by millimeters. He carried me and a friend of mine by himself to a clinic located halfway across the station to get first aid as fast as he possibly could. I owe this human my life." She explains, staring straight at the councilor with her gaze never wavering as he stared back into her eyes.

After a minute, Sparatus nods his head and looks towards Devin, telling him the wants to see the face of his niece's savior so that he may thank him personally.

Obliging to the man's request, Devin takes his helmet off and sets it on his lap, revealing his face to the councilor so that he may do what he requested.

"Thank you, now on behalf of the Turian Hierarchy, I, Councilor Sparatus, would like to thank you for saving my niece's life and putting for your own at risk. If you ever need something, ask me and I'll get it to you. But, only for one occasion. Now, onto why you're here Tulma; as I said before, the last time you were here was when your father died last year. What brings you here now?"

"It's about my mother; have you… have you heard anything from her, or anything about her?" She asks him, her voice dropping to near silence as she asked him about her mother.

Sighing, Sparatus nods at her and tells her that she is still doing just fine and that she misses her.

"She doesn't blame you at all for what happened, so please Tulma, stop blaming yourself; it was an accident."

"An accident? SHE'S PERMANENTLY PARALYZED BECAUSE OF ME, OF COURSE I'M GOING TO BLAME MYSELF!" She screams, taking both men back with her outburst.

Devin didn't know anything about this.

Now on the verge of crying, she looks back to her uncle with her voice under some control.

"I'm… I'm sorry, you didn't deserve that. It's just- there's not a day that passes by that I don't think of her. Phaeston, damn me and damn my biotics." She says bitterly, slouching in her seat as Devin begins to comfort her by patting her shoulder and rubbing her back.

Receiving a look from Sparatus that Devin didn't really understand, he shrugged the man off in favor to comfort his friend.

With her breathing and voice under control, Tulma yet again apologizes for her outburst and thanks Devin for the support.

"What happened to her mother?" He asks the councilor, with the man looking at Tulma for permission to explain everything to him, to which he gave him the go ahead.

"About twenty two years ago, when Tulma here was six years old, she and her mother Malerna were out doing something with each other, I don't remember what it was, and that's when Tulma's biotics flared for the first time: when reaching out for her mother to get her attention, she accidentally sent out an unstable warp that hit her mother in the lower back, right at the base of her spine. Malerna had a condition that gave her spinal and back problems, but with that warp hitting her, it completely destroyed the nerves that were located there; paralyzing her from the waste down for the rest of her life. She's been getting treatments, but there isn't any hope for recovery. Cloning would work, but we'd have to… cut her in half for the surgery to be commenced. And if we do that, she'd die regardless if the procedure was a success or a failure." He explained in gruesome detail, making Devin go wide eyed at what he was just told as he looks at both Sparatus and Tulma; one grimacing at the memory and the other ashamed for what happened.

"Damn…" Is all that Devin could muster to say, just now understanding why Tulma absolutely hates her biotics; she had hurt one of the most important people in her life because of what she did with them.

"Yes, and when she came of age, she was sent to the Cabal Corps to further hone her biotic abilities; not that it'd matter, she still refuses to use them. And let me guess: you've never seen her use any form of biotic abilities, have you?" Sparatus asks him, receiving a no from Devin as he thought on the question that he had been asked.

Staying quiet so that the two of them could finish their conversation, Devin kept thinking about what he had learned in the past twenty minutes of talking to the turian councilor: it was easy to see that he still cared for her and that he wants to see her happy, but he has a galaxy to run and that has to take precedence.

"Human, if you will, come with me to the balcony so that I may speak with you in private." Sparatus tells him, standing up and exiting the room while Devin looks at Tulma for a second, telling her that he'll be back in a minute before making his way to where the councilor had exited.

Standing beside the man, Devin looks out below and sees the Presidium ring beneath him.

"What are your plans for my niece?"

'_Well that question came out of the blue.'_ Devin thinks to himself, raising an eyebrow at the question that the man asked randomly.

"Nothing nefarious, if that's what you're thinking; Tulma is my friend and I'd do anything for her if it means that she benefits from it: I'd even lay down my life for her. I don't know what or where you're getting at with that question sir, but if you think for one second that I'd harm her and use her for my own personal gain, I'll knock your fucking teeth so far down your throat that you'll have to chew food through your asshole, when you eat. And besides, the sniper that's watching us needs a better position to keep an eye on us: I can see the lens flare from his sight reflecting light." Devin informs the man, crossing his arms as he stares at the councilor in scrutiny, his eyes narrowed in agitation.

The response that he got from him was one that he wasn't expecting whatsoever: laughter.

Laughing at what he had said, Sparatus signals the sniper to stand down with a wave of his hand before looking back at Devin.

"You've got spirit and a fierce temper; I'll give you that: it isn't everyday that a man gets to insult and threaten a councilor while surrounded by armed guards _and_ having a sniper scope zeroed in on his head. Well, that's all I needed to know. Thank you again, Devin, can I call you by your name? Okay, Devin, thank you again for saving her life: her mother would be devastated to learn of her daughter's death, shortly after my brother's. She's a good woman, and Tulma needs to learn to accept the fact that she isn't to blame for what happened. And I know for a fact that you'll do her well; we military veterans know how to handle something as simple as that." He tells him, going back to looking at the sights that surround his office.

"What makes you so sure I'm military? I could be a mercenary, for all you know."

Hearing that, Sparatus takes one look at him and tells him that his stance, attitude, and actions are what gives it away and that there isn't any mercenary group in existence that can drill that level of discipline into one of their soldiers.

"Not only that, but you're not the mercenary type. I know a human soldier when I see one; I fought against hundreds, if not thousands, of them back when the Relay 314 incident was happening. I don't hate your species, but I don't necessarily love them either: but that's just an old soldier rambling about his glory days. Regardless of my feelings, I can see the potential for your race: you humans embody so many traits and characteristics from numerous species around the galaxy, that it stuns someone when you all do something that their species are known for. You're all great diplomats, amazing intellectuals, fierce and determined fighters, resilient enough to take blows that would cripple others, and many more. Spirits sake, you can have a limb removed forcefully and continue on where a salarian would die of shock within moments! What I'm trying to say is this: I look forward to the day when humanity is seen as equals and as a species to hold your own up to in regards of your accomplishments in the galaxy."

With that finished, Sparatus shakes Devin's hand as he looks back in the room and motions to it.

"Now I've got business to attend to, and while I'm at it, take care of her for me and her mother; she's very dear to the both of us. Have a good day, and keep her safe for us, Devin." He tells him, his voice filled with genuine concern for her safety.

"Yes sir." Devin tells him, walking back into the room and seeing Tulma still sitting there deep in thought, thinking awfully hard on whatever subject is within her mind.

Nudging her to bring her back to reality, Devin motions for the door and tells her that it's time to go elsewhere while her uncle works, to which she agreed and said her goodbyes and left the office.

* * *

With them now in the wards, Devin and Tulma are looking around and enjoying their time as they walk in each other's company, Tulma point out points of interest to Devin with him looking at whatever catches their eye. Ever since they left the presidium, they were both just happy to be back and experiencing new things; one of which was Blasto.

"My god… it's true: a hanar… that is a spectre… and a renegade? What the fuck kind of script and movie is this? It sounds awful!" He tells her, not believing Tulma for a single second about something so incredulous being true.

Tulma laughed at his comment, agreeing with him completely that it is ridiculous.

"I don't know how or why there's even six of them." She says, watching Devin's head snap back towards her in an instant.

"THERE'S SEQUELS!?"

Now he knew why the Collectors were going after people; it was for them cursing the galaxy with this tainted heresy.

"Oops."

With that behind them, they go back to wandering around and seeing what else the wards had to offer while having fun.

All in all, it was a very nice and unforgettable experience for Devin: having seen and been on the hub of galactic society was an awesome experience, but what he found and done on the station was on another level entirely.

It was easily the best day of his life, all thanks to Tulma.

"Hey," she says, gaining his attention, "what time is it?"

Looking down at his omni-tool and activating it, Devin sees that it's roughly eight o'clock and that they have a few more hours before they have to get back to the Normandy.

Tulma hummed in thought, wondering how exactly they're going to spend the rest of their day together before having to leave and continue on their mission with Shepard.

Gaining an idea, Tulma looks at Devin and asks him if he'd want to go watch a movie with her at the theater.

"Sure, why not? We've got time to spend, but as long as it's not over two and a half hours; we'll need time to get back to the Normandy, after all." He tells her, headed for the rapid transit station and climbing in the car with her following behind.

Today was definitely the best day of both of their lives.

* * *

"What's the name of this movie again? And why aren't there other species in it and only humans?" Devin asks her, his helmet off and in his lap as he eats a handful of popcorn, while pointing at the screen.

Tulma, after finishing and swallowing her food, had informed him that it was a movie from earth way before humanity had ever met any other species.

"Well, the movie is from before humanity had first contact with the rest of the galaxy. The movie is about a group of these soldiers fighting in the second world war to save one of their own who was captured by the enemy early in the battle: hence the name, Saving Private Ryan. The beach scene is a little bit… too realistic in how human casualties and gore are used on screen, so much so that the council was seriously thinking about banning it from all theaters in council space. But humans around the galaxy demanded that such a historic movie must be shown to others so that they can see what was happening on earth at a time where we were living in peace." She explained, looking at the screen and watching as the main protagonist was firing a handgun at an advancing tank, only for it to be destroyed by friendly forces.

Devin nodded his head, accepting the explanation that she had given him to better understand the movie as a whole: nearly two hundred years ago, his people were still trying to figure out how to use vehicles and airplanes to advance modern-day life, their humanity was filming about wars that encompassed the world, supposedly.

"Eh, I can see the message that it's telling us, but I did come from a world that was experiencing a world war, literally, so I can relate to this movie more than anyone else here. But I will say this: it's a good movie and the actors and the director deserves the praise."

With the end credits scene rolling, that's when everyone who attended the movie stood up and began filing out of the theater room, Devin and Tulma looking at the time and seeing that they had less than twenty minutes to get back to the Normandy and decided to use the transit station once again to go back to where the ship is docked.

With them both flying back, they had both conversed and spoke about their day and their experiences together: about how it was fun, they both had a good time, got to see the councilor, Devin learning more about Tulma's past, relaxing in the park, and even seeing a good movie to end it all.

Today has been the best day of their lives, and no one could refute that.

"Well, we're here." Devin says, waiting for the car to stop and steps out as Tulma follows.

"Yeah, shame too; I really wanted this day to go on. I had fun today, the most fun I had in years. What about you?"

"Definitely. Having to fight a war for your survival meant that you were never allowed to kick back and relax and have a little bit of fun. But… I'm up to do this again sometime, if you are?" He asks her, receiving a strong agreement to his question as they both enter the airlock and see that Mordin and Tyler were both waiting inside as well.

"Oh hey, what's up you two?" Tyler asks, casually leaning up against a wall as Mordin stays on his omni-tool and never even seems to acknowledge the new occupants to the room.

Tulma was quick to answer.

"Just got back from leave, spent the day looking around the wards and what the presidium had to offer. You?"

Tyler tells her that he more or less did the same thing: went out to eat, bought some stuff for himself, went to a shooting range, and just meandered about until it was time to get back to the ship.

With the doors now opening, the four of them walks in and heads to the elevator, minus Mordin as he went to the lab, and heads down to different floors: Tulma stopped and went to the crew's quarters and went to see Chakwas for a checkup on her injuries, while Tyler and Devin went down in the hangar bay to go about their business.

Deciding to make small talk with his neighbor, Tyler asks Devin about himself: things like his name, hobbies, character quirks, what he thinks about the mission, and other stuff.

Devin told him that he doesn't trust but two people on the ship with his name, and for him to call him Onyx until further notice.

"Besides that, I like my weapons and how they operate, I guess you could say that I'm more comfortable in my armor and with my guns than whatever this new shit they have nowadays. And as for the mission itself? Whatever these Collectors are, we'll show them why it's a bad mistake to fuck with humanity, am I right?"

"Damn straight."

With them making small talk for the remainder of time that they're awake, Devin learns more about his neighbor than he realized; the man was similar to an old friend he had back in school, what with his mannerisms and attitude.

He could get along with this guy, that much he was certain about.

With the day coming to an end, and Joker piloting the ship out of the Citadel and through the mass relay, everyone on board settles in for the night; waiting for when it was time to go on another mission to recruit whoever else was on Shepard's list. And with that, it was time for everyone on board to go to sleep; with Devin in his new bed that he had requisitioned from EDI this morning.

Now with a bed to sleep on, he could get some decent sleep to the point where it wasn't going to affect his health or his combat status like last mission.

"Night Onyx." He hears Tyler say to him from across the room.

"Night Tyler." He responds and afterwards they both finally fell asleep, ready for the time it was for them to gather their gear and head out.

* * *

**And that wraps up this chapter! Hope you all enjoyed reading this as much as I had when writing it. Now some of you may be wondering why I made Sparatus seem as if he was a decent person and the reason is simple: Devin saved his niece's life and that he isn't doing anything political at the moment, so he doesn't need to keep that image of a hardened politician who is callous and non-caring. He's just a normal person who just so happens to have to use that image in order to get stuff done. Kinda like one of my old drill sergeants when I was in basic.**

**Anyways, thanks everyone for the reviews, views, follows, and favorites; they mean the world to me. And some of you may be wondering why I keep listing the numbers that increase every chapter at the top of the chapter; it's to help me see how much my story has grown. As such, it's just filler for you all, but a way that I use to keep track of progress.**

**Thank you all, and I'll see you all the Monday after next!**


	10. I AM KROGAN!

**Wow I hate life, my week has not been pretty. My laptop decided that it didn't want me to do anything and to not cooperate with me at all, so I wasn't able to do anything at all, and instead wanted me to be one with nature. The good thing from this week is that my best friend got to hold his daughter for the first time. It was the greatest feeling in the world, he described. I wish the best for him and his new family. Him, another friend of ours, and I were actually called _Those Three Morons_ in school by some of the kids who went there with us. Some meant it in a joking manner, some not. We didn't care though, we'd always mess around and make the best of our situation. And that is where the name came from. This chapter has us meeting Grunt, and it's been one that I've been waiting forever to write. Enjoy!**

**Review Time:**

**Blaze: Yeah I thought so too, but it still gets the point across about how she feels about herself and the biotics that, in her eyes, she was cursed with. I know I'd hate myself if I paralyzed my mom, even if it was an accident.**

**Smiley: Thank you for the support; here's another chapter for you to read!**

**Khoashex: I'm never going to abandon this story; I've put over a thousand hours or more into making it what it is today. I started this story while working at a local McDonald's last year, around June, and I'd spend my entire lunch break working on it. 30 minutes a day for five days. I almost gave up when I discovered that my progress had been deleted and that all of chapter two and half of one were gone. But I pushed through the anger and the pain and made the story into what it has become today.**

**Mythian: You're welcome; whenever a situation comes up, I'll do my best to notify you all and keep you all posted on the situation.**

**Onto the special part: thanking all of you, from my first follower and favorite to the last.**

**Followers: Erunerus, pushtrak1, Evil RobotDuck, IchigoUzumwki, Leman42x, Khoashex, Captain Shadow Blade, ArchAngel319, RandomReader336, Gorgoc, Blue Night The Exorcist, peanutbutter6996, Glacyeel, praxis shadow, Blaze1992, 1, MythianTechCorp, redcollecter, thatdog2001, Connor Ohlander, billymom2, mad thought, of them, starhunter24, Hazardplay1911, DireProphet, Eu sou um fa, Trychocysts, book2555, bigwoof, nifgard, spray and be dead, dissyion, Warga. Thank you all for following my story, I very much appreciate the time that you took out of your day to give me this milestone. All 34 of you.**

**Favorites: Fallen Preserver, IchigoUzumwki, revan193, Nexus Gundam, Khoashex, .374549, javowars117, ArchAngel319, RandomReader336, Carnage Asura, peanutbutter6996, Glacyeel, HavocOrder0999, MythianTechCorp,wolf427, captaindickscratcher (that made me laugh), thatdog2001, Connor Ohlander, billymom2, madrac, Mandrake109, of them, starhunter24, Hazardplay1911, DireProphet, Irishman1993, Eu sou um fa, StellarToe6133, PepeLeSfont, nifgard, mbh040, Itharius the Hunter, spray and be dead, dissyion, ultimate idiot (my life in a nutshell). Thank you all for favoring my story, I very much appreciate the time that you all took out of your day to give me this milestone. All 35 of you.**

**Since last update, we've had over 1300 views (though it would've been less if I had updated when I wanted) and we're over 4150, four more reviews sitting at 24, 7 favorites, and 5 follows! Thank you all so much, and here is the chapter that I promised you all but didn't deliver.**

* * *

**Chapter Ten: I AM KROGAN!**

It had been a couple of days since everyone had shore leave at the Citadel: everyone was in good spirits, the Normandy had restocked and gained a surplus of supplies, Gardner had fresh items to cook with, and Devin and Tulma were currently playing an old game for turian children.

"So… run this by me again, I have to make sure that I understand whatever the hell I should be doing." He told her, making the woman groan in frustration.

"I explained it twice already! How have you not picked it up already?" She asks the man, slightly irritated at his lack of effort to attempt to play along.

Devin, looking perplexed at the woman that sat before him, groaned and rubbed his face with his unarmored hand.

"Well excuse me princess, I don't understand how some of these rules work out; never mind the fact that it's written is your language." He points out, bringing up the rulebook for her to see that it is indeed written in Palavenian.

"Fine, fine, I'll tell you again. Okay, so this game is called _R__eskus_, an old game dating back several centuries for our youth. The point of the game is to gather hints and clues to other player's cards and capture them and add them to your collection, whatever cards are captured can't be used again until the start of the next game: when your opponent, or opponents, runs out of cards, you win. My cousins, Maricius and Locenia, would always play this game with me whenever they came over." She explains, looking at Devin to see if he finally got it after she had sat down and explained it to him three times.

Only to sigh in relief as he nods his head and gathers his cards from the small deck from his side.

"Okay, sounds simple enough; let's get this show on the road, shall we?"

"I'm warning you, Onyx, Tulma here is _good_ at this game; she kicked my sorry ass at it several dozen times before I even won my first game." Came the warning to their right, both of whom sees Garrus watching them from the end of the table as he drinks something from a glass.

Shrugging the man off, Devin tells him that the reason why he lost is that he's a beta male and a turbo virgin.

That comment made everyone present stop what they were doing, immediately.

"I'm sorry, I don't think my translator picked that up properly: did you just say that I'm a… beta male and a virgin?"

"_Turbo_ virgin," he corrected, giving the man a shit eating grin, before continuing "and yes, yes I did."

"I'm not even a virgin…"

"So, you admit to being a beta male then? Shame on you Garrus, shame on you."

"I don't even know what that means…" Garrus trails off, his confusion blatantly obvious to everyone as Devin laughs at his expense, while Tulma shook her head.

Asking if they were done messing with each other, Tulma gathers her cards and takes a look at them while Devin nods and looks at his in return.

With all other distraction currently dealt with and/or ignored, the two of them begins their game; one being a seasoned veteran and using her experience to read her opponent's facial expressions for hints and clues that could give her an edge, while the other stared blankly at his cards and decided to wing it.

Truly a game filled with awe-inspiring and tedious moments fit for a galactic-sized tournament and audience.

With the first card drawn, Tulma takes a breath and begins her questions.

"So, for my first question: how…"

* * *

"…DOES THAT MAKE ANY SENSE?!"

Tulma wasn't happy, not one bit.

Devin, for the most part, didn't know how to react when she had this outburst; poor guy didn't even know what he had done to gain all of her cards in a single turn.

"I… guessed?" Came the weak reply from the man, not because he was fearful of the woman, but because he was more confused about what had happened than anything really.

He had somehow gathered enough cards to make a guess of what set and information that she had in her talons, all from making a guess. He didn't even know who half of these people or places that were written on them to gain the advantage back from the irate woman; she had been kicking his ass for the last twenty minutes with zero remorse and sympathy towards him. So, he inadvertently did the exact same thing that she had been doing to him, and it won him the game.

Go figure.

Sitting down in her chair, Tulma stares in shock at the fact that she has no more cards left and that Devin, a member of a completely different species and a person who had no idea how to even play the game not thirty minutes ago, bested her at her favorite childhood game.

It seems as if the spirits really were working in favor of the man, just to spite her.

"I can't believe it… a guess… is all it took… for me to lose. A fucking _guess_." She grumbles to herself, crossing her arms as she pouts at losing against such an inexperienced player.

"How did you even get that?" She demanded, but not making the question come out hostile, but purely inquisitively.

Not it was Devin's turn to be flustered, rubbing the back of his neck as he tries to explain how he had brought himself from the jaws of defeat so easily and stole the win from her swiftly and brutally.

"Well, I kept thinking about all of the questions you were asking me and decided to reword them a bit, rewording questions like _'Is this person famous, or is this place a tourist attraction'_ and used that against you… yeah, not too creative if you ask me." He explained, pursing his lips a bit and scratches the side of his head in embarrassment.

Who would've thought that this bootleg version of reverse-psychology would work for a game of turian twenty questions and playing cards?

"That is the most ridiculous, asinine, and downright mediocre strategy that I have ever heard of being used for a game like this… but it _worked_. Fair enough; you won fair and square, so congrats on your first victory."

"Thanks, I appreciate it. We should do this again sometime, maybe with Garrus and whoever else wants to join in." He tells her, seeing her shrug in response and Garrus reluctantly agreeing to the request.

Sadly though, whatever else they had planned for the afternoon was canceled when Shepard strode around the corner and pointed at Tulma.

"Hey guys, sorry to cut whatever fun you all were having here, but Tulma is going on the next mission with me to pick up the krogan scientist, Warlord Okeer. We'll be ready and waiting for you at the hangar in fifteen minutes. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm headed down and getting Tyler for this mission as well. Remember: fifteen minutes." He told them, giving a wave to the others as he leaves the mess hall and heads for the elevator, leaving the three of them to sit and process the information that they were just given.

Groaning in frustration, Tulma stands up and says her goodbyes, telling Devin and Garrus that she'll be headed to the armory to get her weapons and other gear for the upcoming mission and that she would win the next game they played, before taking her leave.

With her now gone, Devin and Garrus sat in silence at the table, one finishing his third drink and the other bored out of his mind.

"Wanna watch the ground team's camera feed from my area?" Garrus suddenly asks, catching Devin's attention immediately.

"Fuck it, let's go."

* * *

"Nice place you got here: somewhat cluttered and a bit noisy, but nevertheless, nice place." Devin commented, looking around the forward battery area and seeing a weapon's bench tucked away in one corner and further down another workbench by the main cannons.

"Yeah, don't mind the mess, I've been trying to calibrate the main guns here so that they can be more efficient and deadlier whenever we need to use them. Besides that, I have a couple of chairs here, one for you and the other for me, so let's get down to business and see what the commander is up to."

Nodding in agreement, Devin tells him to go ahead and set everything up while he raids the fridge for a couple packs of beer.

Receiving a thumbs up, Devin exits the room and heads for the fridge and opens it, grabbing two twelve packs of turian alcohol and making sure it was cold, then heads back through the door leading to Garrus' room.

"I'm back, and I brought the good stuff."

Setting both packs down, Devin takes his helmet off and sets it on the floor next to him as Garrus grabs a bottle before popping it open and taking a drink from it.

Stopping when he sees that both packs are turian alcohol and not one of them, Garrus asks him why he didn't get a pack of human alcohol.

"Dammit Garrus, you know I can eat your food and drink your beverages; Tulma and I explained it to you yesterday. I'm not from this universe and my humanity isn't a bunch of pansies that lets biology stop us from doing shit. If I want a bottle of… I'm not even going to even _attempt_ to pronounce that word, I'm going to drink it." He tells him, popping it open and taking a few drinks from it before setting it on the bench beside him.

"Right, right, sorry about that. It's just… I can't seem to wrap my head around the fact that I'm best friends and having a drink with a human from another universe; I wonder what my dad would think about this situation… Honestly, I'm not even surprised that you told Tulma first; you two are pretty close to each other."

"Yeah, yeah, you're just jealous. Anyways, time to see what's going on with them. So, bring up the footage so we can see what happens, my scaly friend."

With that said, they both take another drink from their bottles and kick back and relax as the helmet footage appears on the screen before them.

* * *

Tulma was not having a good time: the scorching heat was making her carapace soften up in all the wrong places, said places rubbing against the inside of her under armor, and add in the fact that the Blue Suns are currently shooting at them is making her scars ache in phantom pain.

All in all, it was miserable for her. But she was a cabal for the hierarchy, so she'll have to do what her superior told her to do, whenever instances like this happen to spring up.

Suffer quietly.

"We've got four more troopers joining the fight! Heads up on that everyone." Shepard tells them, ducking behind cover when a burst of gunfire is directed at him.

"Geeze, I would have never thought of that." Came a remark from Tyler, sending out a warp and a lash at one of the mercs and was rewarded with an explosion.

"Make that one less, commander."

"Will you two keep quiet and focus on the task at hand!" Tulma exclaimed at the two, trying to remain serious in the fight while the other two were joking around.

"You doing okay over there? You seem rather… hot headed." Came the snarky comment from Shepard, grinning at his use of a play-on word.

"Turians don't like the heat, we don't like the cold, and we most certainly hate swimming."

Tyler was confused about that last one, so he asks her about the whole swimming thing as she shoots the commando right between the eyes and drops him to the ground.

"You've never seen us swim, have you? Well here's a few hints: splashing, flailing, screaming, praying to the spirits, and the most important one; the occasional bouts of drowning aren't fun. I don't even want to know how you humans can do that without sinking; you all don't even have any form of webbing between your fingers and feet, do you?"

"Nope. Besides, the whole near-death thing somewhat adds spice to our monotonous lives." Shepard adds in, receiving a look of incredulity from the woman as Tyler laughs at her expense.

"I'm surrounded by psychos…" She mutters, having gained a new outlook on humanity within minutes of being on the ground team with two of them.

"Just wait until later! Generally, as in all the time, things go south for our merry band of misfits and losers." Shepard tells her, smiling at the turian as she groans at the revelation.

"I'm going to die out here…"

* * *

With the fighting done, the three of them walks up the ramp and avoids the bodies as they gather any thermal clips that were left over from the fighting, and continues on. However, hearing someone muttering something about something not stopping, they look over and see a merc on the ground trying desperately to staunch his wound.

Tyler shakes his head, telling them that his wound isn't even fatal and that's the area he's holding doesn't have anything vital.

"What he doesn't know won't hurt him." Shepard comments, striding up to the merc as he looks up at Shepard.

The downed merc took one look at the three of them, before saying that he knew that it wasn't berserkers but mercs or the Alliance instead. He then told them that he isn't going to say anything.

Shepard paid his words no mind, already forming a plan to get what he wanted. And what Shepard wants, Shepard gets.

"I've got a nice application of medi-gel ready to go. But if you'd rather I just keep walking." He tells the man, briefly activating his omni-tool before shutting it off.

"Son of a… I don't know anything. I just shoot the overflow from the labs. The old krogan up there, he's really been cleaning house lately. Jedore hired him to make her an army, but the krogan he creates are insane, so we use them for live ammo training. It's all crap; I don't get paid enough to goddamn bleed out!" He tells them, his attitude changing in an instant when the man offered him salvation.

After he was finished, his radio activates, someone on the other end of it contacting his outpost and telling them that Jedore is wanting them to move and that they need to know where the krogan pack is.

Shepard brought the man close to him, telling him that he wanted them gone and far away from where they are.

"Uh, patrol? The last group… dispersed. Lost sight five minutes ago." He replies, getting a negative response from whoever was talking to him through the radio.

"You asked for a report. Dispersed… There, you see? I'm helping."

At this point Shepard begins to question him, asking about Okeer, about the plans with the krogan, and what type of fortifications that the installation has.

Telling him everything that he needed to know, Shepard gives the man his medi-gel and tells him to limp somewhere cool before walking away from him, Tulma and Tyler following closely behind.

"Not gonna lie, I thought you were going to tell him to limp somewhere before he bleeds out." Tulma says, grabbing her rifle and readying it.

"Eh, I thought about it. Besides, we've got hostiles up ahead on the catwalk."

With a new group of mercs to fight, the three of them takes out the two gunners on the catwalk before proceeding down the side ramp; only to stop as more people shows up on another cat walk with additional support on the ground level.

"Geeze, just how many krogan did they kill?" Tyler asks, looking around and seeing the ground littered with bodies.

"Don't know!"

With them entering another area, they see even more mercs firing at them, however there were now people armed with missile launchers added into the fray; all in all, the three of them weren't happy about it.

"Tulma, Tyler draw their attention while I provide sniper support! I've got a thing to show these assholes." Shepard orders them, grabbing the mantis from his back as he mods the ammo for it to fire armor-piercing ammo.

Aiming his rifle at one of the mercs with the rocket launcher, Shepard breathes in and out, firing the rifle as he watches the merc drop dead to the ground. Cycling in another thermal clip, Shepard takes a look at his squad and sees that they're performing admirably against what is currently being thrown against them. He just wishes that Tulma would use her biotics…

"Aren't cabals, oh I don't know, BIOTICS?!" Tyler yells, taking cover as rounds slam into his cover while Tulma shakes her head.

"You know the answer to that, and besides my biotics are for short range only! Use your whips and lashes if you want them dead!" She replies, firing her rifle into one merc as Shepard takes him down and out of the fight for good.

Stopping for a moment and raising a finger, Tyler stops and drops his hand before shrugging, "Fair enough."

"Will you two stop flirting and pass me a thermal clip; I'm all out!" Shepard tells them, only to have two thermal clips smack him in the face as Tyler and Tulma both glare at him.

"Didn't have to throw it so hard…" He mumbles, fake pouting as he loads them into his rifle and takes out the last merc.

* * *

Back on the ship with Devin and Garrus, they had a little game going on between the two of them and the rules were simple: if Shepard came up with a snarky remark or said something like the smart ass he is, Garrus took a drink, when Tulma did the same, Devin took a drink. The drinks weren't little either; an entire mouthful had to be swallowed. The stuff he grabbed was, according to human measurement, twenty-five percent alcohol and was evidently some fairly strong stuff.

Needless to say, Garrus was going to get drunk before the end of the mission while Devin may be halfway there.

"No fair, you knew he was going to do something like that." Garrus accused, pointing at Devin while the man took a drink from his second bottle.

"Yep. Now get to drinking bitch; Shepard said a one-liner."

"I hate you."

"And I'm not hearing you swallowing any beer either."

Laughing at that, Garrus took his drink and downed another mouthful of it before the feed cut off entirely, causing both men to give cries of protest.

"What the hell! Bring the good stuff back, dammit!" Devin told him, motioning for the turian to get his ass moving and fix whatever happened.

"Just hold on a minute, I'm getting a call from… dad? Shit…" Garrus said, before activating his omni-tool and opening the call and revealing an older looking turian with the same facial paint that Garrus and Tulma has.

"Ah Garrus, I've been meaning to… is this a bad time?" He asks, noticing that both occupants in the room has alcohol in their hands.

Upon noticing the look that his father was giving him, Garrus tried to explain what was happening but Devin beat him to the punch.

"Hell no this isn't a bad time; you probably saved Garrus here from getting drunk enough to sleep with a hanar. We're having a drinking game and your son here was going to lose." Devin explained, before taking another swig from his bottle.

Upon seeing the look his dad gave the man, Garrus decided to introduce the two of them before any misunderstanding happens.

Devin would surely ag it on.

"Dad, this is the human I was telling you about the one who save my life at Omega, Devin Carmine. Devin this is my dad, Castis Vakarian." He tells them, Devin raising a bottle to the man in greetings while he nods his head at him in return.

"Yes, pleasure to finally meet the man who saved my son's life. Now… why are you drinking from a bottle of _Rexulianous_?"

Taking a look at the bottle within his hand, Devin shrugs and sets it down; not even trying to hide the fact that he shouldn't be drinking it in the first place.

"A couple of years ago, Cerberus was doing some weird experimentation with the human body, trying to see what they could do to improve the already crazy resiliency of our anatomy. I was an… unwilling subject for their tests; had my insides altered so much that I can safely digest this stuff without keeling over dead. The side effects have… lessened over the years but I still get pains from time to time." Devin replied automatically, his cover story having been rehearsed within his head to the point that he can reply with it automatically without stuttering or showing any other signs that he is lying.

Gotta thank the Onyx Guards for teaching him that neat trick.

"Yes, Garrus did tell me about you being a subject for their experiments; you have my sympathy. I was just calling in to check on you, your sister was worried when she heard that you were in trouble; you know how she is when she gets like that. Anyways, it was a pleasure to finally meet you Devin; sorry to make it short but I've got other things to take care of. Love you son, and stay safe."

"You too, dad."

With that, the connection ends and the screen goes black and waits for further instructions.

"So… sister huh?"

"Not a word, Devin; not a word."

"But... we could be brother-in-laws!"

"Not another word." Garrus sternly replies, making Devin shrug in indifference.

Garrus brings back the live feed from the ground team's cameras, showing that they're now speaking with some asari who was cowering behind a desk.

"Should we drink the rest of our bottle to make up for the lost feed?"

"Yep."

And drink they did.

* * *

"I shut off the security cams as soon as I saw it was you. Never thought I'd say it, but I'm glad that it's you shooting up the place. Sorry. Rana Thanoptis. You let me go when you destroyed Saren's lab on Virmire. Had to outrun a nuke in a utility pod, but it's still a second chance.

"What's Okeer trying to do here?" Shepard asks, wanting to get on-hand knowledge about the facility to get a better understanding of who he's dealing with.

"It's complicated. Jedore wants a private army, but Okeer mostly ignores her. He's running the project for his own reasons. I created a mental imprint routine to educate his tank-bred, but most don't get through it. He dumps them for some reason. He wants to help his people, but he's not looking for a cure, and he's not going for numbers. That's all I know." She explains, telling him about what she had done and seen at the facility while under Okeer.

Shepard nodded at what he and his team has learned, but tells her that him finding her in a place like this was beginning to make him believe that it was a mistake of letting her go and that she didn't want that.

"We agree on that. Don't worry, I plan on staying as far away from anything to do with you as possible. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to run like hell before you blow this place or something. I know how you work." She tells him, getting behind the group before taking off towards a shuttle to get away from the man and whatever he plans on doing.

With her now gone, Tulma asks him if it was a wise decision to let her go considering all that she has done.

Shepard merely shrugs, telling her that he isn't a murderer.

Walking into the next room, the group is greeted by a krogan wearing green armor standing at a terminal and watching it, telling them that he's been watching them since they arrived.

"It's about time. The batteries on these tanks will not wait while you play with these idiotic mercs." He tells them, quite harshly in Shepard's opinion.

"I take it you're Okeer? You don't seem particularly caged… or grateful that I'm here."

"You may claim to be here to help, but the formerly deceased Shepard is not a sign of gentle change. Surprised? All krogan should know of you. I'm sure that Rana has already revisited your actions on Virmire." He tells him, getting straight to the point in a no-nonsense fashion.

Shepard tells him that he's sure that he will too, and Okeer did retell his actions and that he likes the nuclear fire part because it has weight.

"I didn't have a lot of room for finesse. If there'd been any other solution, I'd have considered it."

Okeer agreed with him there, stating that those who followed Saren were not true krogan and that numbers are meaningless, especially with the same mistakes that the outsiders were making.

He then goes on to explain that he gives Jedore the rejects for her army, but she is growing impatient and that it was time for them to take him off of this planet, along with his greatest creation: the perfect krogan, one who ignores the Genophage and is more of a threat than any other krogan combined.

And Shepard stood there thinking that this walking dino-toad was an endless bag of wind.

With Jedore activating the contaminants storage, Okeer tells Shepard that he'll tell him everything that he wants to know, and that he'll stay with his creation and does what needs to be done.

With Shepard, Tulma, and Tyler now in the storage area, they are immediately assaulted by nearly a dozen armed mercs, rejected krogan with daddy issues, and an YMIR mech all wanting to do one thing: wreck their shit.

They were settled in for a long, gruesome fight.

* * *

With three krogan dead, half the mercs, and the YMIR still walking around, the three of them decided that it was time that they took out the mech before it took them out.

"Tyler, hit that thing with a warp, Tulma I need you to do whatever is in your biotic capabilities to help Tyler, after that send all of your frags at the damn thing and bring it down; I'll be picking off the mercs one by one until you two are done! And for the love of god, reload before you do that!" He orders them, leaning out of cover to shoot a trooper in the head with his sniper rifle before taking cover again.

"And Chakwas is going to kill me for using the adrenaline module too much…"

"You heard the man! Let's blow this fucker to kingdom come!" Tyler yells, doing exactly what Shepard had told him to do before using his slam power and tearing a krogan apart while Tulma gritted her teeth (**or did the turian equivalent**) and screamed.

Building up all of her biotic energy, arcs of the eezo enhanced energy reached out and enveloped herself, Tyler, and Shepard. With this happening, Tulma focuses all of her biotics into the front of her and sent it out towards the mech, tearing it's shield apart, its armor warping and bending around itself, and any circuitry held within merely failed as the attack hit the mech full force.

The results were spectacular: the mech falls apart and explodes in a blaze of glory.

But the results weren't without their costs; Tulma fell to her knees and collapsed to the ground, completely rendered unconscious.

With Jedore having an additional hole in her head, Shepard holsters his weapon and runs to where she had fell, Tyler standing there in shock at what had occurred just moments ago.

"Holy… shit. Completely siphoned my barriers with that attack she threw out." Tyler says, looking at his HUD and sees that it's glitching out at what happened with Tulma using the energy from his systems.

"We'll worry about that later, we have to get her back to the Normandy and get Okeer along with us. Let's go."

Picking her up and making sure that he's extra careful, Tyler looks down at her and comments that she weighed nothing like what he thought she did.

Shepard raises an eyebrow at that and asks what he thought she weighed.

"I dunno… I figured something like 190 but she weighs about 160 maybe 170. Oh well, get what you need done while I take her back to the ship."

"You got it, and fair warning; Onyx and Garrus are likely going to meet you when you arrive."

* * *

Chugging the rest of his beer, Devin throws it down and grabs his helmet and puts it on and runs out of the room, headed to the hangar to make sure everything is okay.

Garrus wasn't far behind him.

Upon reaching the elevator, Devin practically pries it open and is met with interference when the controls on the elevator stop working, which further pissed him off.

Hearing a giggling sound coming from behind them, Devin and Garrus turns and sees the woman that Shepard had recruited while they were on the Citadel.

Kasumi Goto.

"Headed somewhere big guy? It's a shame that the elevator controls don't work, but if someone were to introduce themselves to-"

She is interrupted when a fist slams into the wall directly beside her head, denting the metal as Devin leans in and growls at her with barely controlled rage.

"Fix. It. Now." He orders her, stepping back as the woman raises both of her hands in a gesture of surrender.

"Right away."

With them now in the hangar bay, Devin meets the shuttle as it lands and the side doors open, revealing Tyler waving him over and motioning for him to pick up Tulma.

"She's conscious now but very lethargic, whatever she did down there must've drained her of everything that she had."

Picking her up, much to the woman's protests, Devin carries her to the infirmary and doesn't stop until he gets there.

* * *

Having to explain to Chakwas what happened took nearly five minutes before the doctor tended to her straight away, muttering something about over working an amp and too much energy consumption at one time. Basically, stuff that went over Devin's head; he didn't know much when it came to biotics, other than ways on how they're applied and can be counteracted.

"So she's going to be alright?" He asks the woman, watching as she types something onto her omni-tool and her terminal.

"Yes, other than a migraine, some nausea, and a sense of lethargy, she'll be fine in a day at least. Two at most. Now young lady, I may be good at patching up the crew whenever they come back from a mission, but I don't want to see you in here for a while; your scars have healed nicely and they don't need someone getting worked up in the field and injuring themselves. Do I make myself, young lady?" She asks the turian, with her only nodding her head in understanding and agreement with the doctor, but staying silent nonetheless.

"Good, now if you'll excuse me, I've got a medical report to file. I'll do that in the mess hall; give you two some privacy."

With her leaving the room, Devin takes his helmet off and looks at Tulma with a tinge of sadness and her not meeting his eyes with her own.

"I'm sorry." She tells him, voice lowered to barely above a whisper.

"You have nothing to be sorry about, Tulma. Tell me why you did what you did, I want to understand the reasoning behind it."

Sighing at his request, she tells him that he knows of her hate for her biotics, given what she did to her mother Devin could see why, but she was placed in between a rock and a hard place: if she didn't do anything, the mech would've seriously injured, or even kill one of them and that she had to act fast. She told him about her biotic ability to absorb the biotic energy from nearby people and objects that utilizes biotic barriers and other forms of the energy and could siphon it into a devastating blast wave that could tear apart nearly anything.

"I had to do something, Tyler was almost out of ammo and the commander had to fall back to using his sniper rifle in a room that was thirty meters long and fifteen meters wide. I figured that if I were to use the blast to take out the mech and a few others, the other two would take care of whoever was left. I just wasn't counting on using _that much_ energy, however." She explains, leaning back against the bed as Devin was processing the information that she had told him.

He could only come up with a single solution to help fix this.

"You remember a couple of months ago on Omega, back when that dick shot you in the leg? How Grellik had to patch you up? You remember what I had said to you when we started to talk?"

Tulma was confused by the question, but told him that she remembers most of what was said during that time. Most of it teasing and harmless flirting between the two.

"Well, I said that even though I've never seen you use biotics, I still thought that you were amazing at them. And watching the helmet feed from Garrus' room, area, place… I don't know, after I seen that happen, I was worried but most of all, I was in awe. I've never seen anything like that in my life, even when I came here. You really are an amazing biotic Tulma, it's just a shame that you don't use them." He tells her, his voice never raising or lowering as he looks at her with sympathy and appraise.

"The last time I used them was when my father died a year ago; I completely tore the room I was in apart. Every now and then, I flare my biotics but I don't ever use them. Until now. Thank you Devin, thank you for believing in me when I didn't even believe in myself. And besides, were you and Garrus drinking before you carried me up here, I can smell it on your breath?" She asks playfully, watching as the man shrugs in response to her question.

"Eh I was winning the game, but yeah we were drinking. So with this now in the open, will you use your biotics from now on?"

"Yes I will; guess I just needed a reason to use them now."

Smiling at having accomplished his task, Devin grabs his helmet and puts it back on, telling her that she needs her rest and that he'll come by when Gardner finishes cooking to give her a plate of food.

Going to the elevator, Devin was surprised to see Shepard standing inside of it smiling at him, almost as if he was expecting him to be there.

"What's up commander?"

"Oh nothing much, just gonna wake up the sleeping giant is all. Want to come with me, act as my insurance just in case things go seven ways to Sunday?" He asks him, his smile never fading or faltering once as he spoke.

This was going to be fun; Devin could already tell.

* * *

Walking into the storage area, Devin takes one look at the pod and raises an eyebrow, asking the man why there's a krogan in a pod and why he's fully armored.

"Beats me." Was the eloquent and thoughtful response that cam from Shepard.

Upon stepping closer to the pod, EDI informs them that the subject was stable and that integration was seamless between the onboard systems. Whatever that meant, Devin didn't know; he was only here to act as damage control.

Shepard being the control and him being the damage.

"Can he see anything in there? Does he know where he is?" He asks, inspecting the pod from a distance as he takes in the situation before him.

"Unlikely. Current neural patterns indicate minimal cognition. Barring ship-wide power loss, the nutrients in the pod could sustain him for over a year." She tells him, much to Shepard's relief and Devin's amusement.

"So far, _minimal cognition_ describes everyone we've faced."

Shepard chuckled at that remark.

"Any idea how dangerous this guy is?"

"He is a krogan, Shepard," EDI started, her wording seemingly reflecting the obvious answer that Shepard wanted, "If you are asking whether he is actively hostile, I don't have the necessary data to answer. Okeer's technology could impart data, not methods of thinking. The subject may know of his views, but would not necessarily share them."

After hearing that Shepard nodded his head, asking her if she could tell him anything about their paperweight, and if so, anything unusual.

She informs him that he is an exceptional example of the krogan species, with full formed organs wherever they were needed, the fact that there were no defects besides the Genophage being present in him, and that she could not judge mental functioning at that moment in time.

With his decision made, Shepard tells her to stand by as he is going to let the krogan out of the tank. All EDI had to say to this was her telling him about Cerberus' protocols about alien tech, but the man told her that he's invaluable to have on the ground team to be sitting in a pod. That, and he wants to get this whole situation behind as soon as possible.

"Very well, Shepard. The controls are now online. The switch- and consequences- are yours."

"That wasn't cryptic as hell." Devin said and Shepard had found himself agreeing to the man; EDI could have said something else, other than that, and it'd be perfectly welcome.

Activating the controls, the two occupants watch as the tanks drains of the fluid that was housed within it and the hatch open, releasing the krogan to the ground as he falls to his hands and knees and coughs up whatever had gotten inside of his lungs.

Upon standing up, he notices that he isn't alone in the room and instantly charges the nearest person, which so happened to be Shepard.

Seeing this, Devin steps in and plants one foot on the ground and raises his right leg and delivers a powerful kick, sending the charging krogan off course and into the nearby wall.

"I'm Commander Shepard, and I-" Shepard started but was interrupted when the krogan now charged the larger and stronger opponent in the room, causing the man to throw his arms up in defeat.

"Onyx, kick his ass; I want to talk and he ain't listening."

Nodding at the order, Devin takes his helmet off and tosses it to the commander just as the krogan hit him with his charge. And damn did he have a force with it; easily the strongest krogan he's faced yet.

Kneeing the krogan in the side, Devin successfully pushes him off of him and raises both of his hands in a fighting stance, his eyes narrowing at the krogan who was now snarling at him.

Shit was going to get interesting, that much was certain.

Dodging a swing from the krogan was easy, he was confused by his environment and what was happening to the point that he was relying purely on instinct and drive to sustain him, and Devin had to beat sense into him. Literally.

Deliver a jab at the lesser armored portion of his shoulder, Devin dodges left and grabs the krogan's arm before kicking his legs out from beneath him and lets the krogan hit the floor. Devin wasn't disappointed when the krogan stood up and smiled at him, showing that he was having fun fighting him with nothing but his fists.

Failing to dodge the charge due to the krogan correcting his course and following the man where he went, he is smashed against the wall before receiving a headbutt that definitely caused blood to start leaking from his nose. In retaliation, Devin delivered a hay-maker to the side of his head, knocking the krogan off of him before he dived on top the now disoriented krogan, sending them both to the ground.

What he had planned needed to be done quickly, or else the two of them are going to be here kicking each other's asses all day.

Grabbing the collar of the krogan's armor, Devin uses his right hand to repeatedly beat the ever-living hell out of the krogan, punching him in the face a couple dozen times while the krogan tried in vain to get the soldier with superior training off of him.

Upon hitting his twenty-sixth punch (he was counting), the krogan began to laugh, filling the room with his deep baritone voice as he stared up at Devin with a bloodied mouth and nose.

"You're good, probably the best fight I'll ever have in my life!" He bellowed, laughing as Devin got off of him and took the hand that he offered to the downed krogan, before smiling at the man.

"Didn't know you humans could match a krogan in a one on one fight; Okeer was wrong about your species. Now before one of us dies, I need a name."

At this point does Shepard intervene, telling the krogan his name and that he is the commander of the ship.

"Not your name, mine. I am trained, I know things, but the tank… Okeer couldn't implant connection. His words are hollow. Warlord, legacy, grunt… grunt. _"Grunt"_ was among the last. It has no meaning. It'll do. I am Grunt. If you are as worthy of command as I've seen of your krantt here, either have him prove his strength again or prove your own and try to destroy me." He told them, his body tensing up as he prepares himself for another fight.

He liked the strange smelling, dark armored human; he could actually harm him while he himself was taking hits that would injure or incapacitate other humans.

"Why do you want us to kill you?"

"Want? I do what I am meant to- to fight and to reveal the strongest. Nothing in the tank ever asked what I want. I feel nothing for Okeer's clan or his enemies. That imprint failed. He has failed. Without a reason that's mine, one fight is as good as any other. Might as well start with you or your krantt." Grunt explains, his reasonings and logic backing up the fact that he has no idea how society works and that he is still acting on impulse.

Shepard had to intervene when he heard this.

"I have a good ship and a strong crew; you'd make it stronger."

"If you're weak and choose weak enemies, I'll have to kill you."

"Our enemies are worthy. No doubt about that."

"Hmm. Hmph! That's… acceptable. I'll fight for you and your krantt; he has proven to be a strong adversary and that reflects on you as well."

Shepard grins at this, telling that he's glad that saw reason and not needless violence.

Looking down, Grunt sees that he has a pistol (**even though the shuriken is a burst fire smg, idk why Bioware made it behave like a pistol…**) pressed against his chest then lets go of the man, laughing as he tells him that he offers one hand, but arms the other.

"Wise Shepard, if I find what I… I want, I will be honored to pit them against you." With him saying that, Grunt walks over back to his pod before looking at Devin.

"You've earned my respect human, what is your name?"

"Call me Onyx."

"Onyx… similar to mine as well; meaningless, short, and straight to the point. I like you Onyx, we should fight again sometime."

"Looking forward to it."

Leaving with Shepard but not forgetting to grab his helmet, the two of them head for the elevator, one heading to do something throughout the ship and the other headed to the armory to see if the upgrades for his rifle were complete.

A stock, holographic sight, and armor-piercing ammo to go with it. It was almost enough to make Devin cry.

* * *

**And that does it for chapter ten, I hope you all enjoyed reading it! Now, like the notice had said: I'm going to be releasing a chapter every two weeks until chapter thirteen starts, which means that chapter 11 and 12 are going to be two weeks from now and two weeks after while chapter 13 will be a week after that. It's only to get caught up with this story.**

**And before I leave here, I have an announcement: I have started writing a little spin-off of this story! I won't go into details just yet, but I will tell you some of it:**

**It's based in ME: Andromeda, it has Benjamin Carmine in it and, this one will be a twist, an OC from the Crysis games. That's right, the nanosuit will be appearing in the story. While my internet was disabled, I decided to play the game and found kept thinking about what Benjamin would say or do, and after I was finished, I replayed Crysis 2 and 3 and thought about what someone with the nanosuit could do; given how the suit is literally a suit of power armor derived from alien technology, it could cloak, harden up to absorb and deflect damage, use the power function to literally carry a 50 cal machine gun like a handbag is nothing to scoff at. At the very least, a mounted 50 weighs anywhere between 80 pounds and 120, depending on what you have with it. Add in the AI, SECOND, that lives inside the suit and uses the host's actual brain as a storage device is insane. And considering that the wiki states that the original 1.0 model could survive a direct nuclear blast 3 out of 5 times, it's safe to say that the 3.0 variant in Crysis 3 had a much higher chance of surviving that and then some. And then there's the predator bow... holy hell that thing is a nightmare. Look it up on the Crysis wiki and you'll see exactly what I'm talking about.**

**Anyways, have fun and stay safe and I'll see you all next update!**


	11. The Psychotic Biotic

**Hello everyone! I hope that all of you has had a great two weeks since last update; mine has good to me as well, got a new job so that's a plus for me. I know that some of you may be a little bit upset at the two weeks per chapter thing that is going on right now, but rest assured that will only be for one more chapter! Afterwards, everything will return back to normal with the weekly updates (until something happens again that I will have to resort to doing this again, though I hope not) and you all can see more into the lives of the Normandy's crew and our main protagonist. Since last update we've gained eleven followers and favorites (45 and 46 respectively), two reviews (26), and a little over a thousand views (~5200)! Thank you all so much for the milestone, I hope to continue writing chapters that you all love!**

**Review Time:**

**Blaze: Honestly, I wasn't thinking about doing the Major Payne routine, it didn't even pop up in my head when I was writing it. As for the spin-off, there's only one OC in it, everyone else is an actual developed character that exists in their universes. Not only that, but I won't be out until later on this year; which gives me enough time to write enough of it and go over it numerous times.**

**Daedra: You know, I figured you would do something like this when you found my story, lol. Especially when you told me about it on xbox. Enjoy!**

**This chapter has Shepard and co recruiting the biotic badass, the psychotic woman with little to no shame, the crazy bitch herself: Jack! Not much is different about this mission than in the game, but a couple of instances are changed up just a tad bit. Nothing too major, just simple actions and sequences that could've been in the game to begin with. For instance the technician you kill in the control room. The dude has a pistol, no armor, no shields, nothing while he's going up against three heavily armored and armed soldiers who tore a war path through a dozen or two mercs with no effort. Like, why?**

**As always, while they make my day, you don't have to leave a follow or a favorite, or even a review; do any of those on your own free will!**

**Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter Eleven: The Psychotic Biotic**

"So, word on the ship here is that you know the big guy pretty good… mind sharing some of that gossip with me girl?" Kasumi asked, flashing a cheshire grin at the target of her inquiries.

Tulma merely rolled her eyes at the woman, crossing her arms as she stares back at the hooded woman with her mandibles held high and tight against her jaw.

"Onyx? Yeah, we've known each other for a few months now, back when he, Garrus, and I were mopping up the streets of Omega. Garrus and I know him a lot more than anyone else aboard this ship." She replied, not trusting the woman with her child-like attitude and the fact that she had learned that the woman in front of her was the galaxy's best thief wasn't helping her opinions of her.

"Come now, we don't have to be strictly professional all the time: relax, have a drink, sit down and chat with me! Not too often we can have a little bit of girl time on this ship." She told her, sliding into a swivel chair as she spun around within it, all while keeping that same smile on her lips.

Sighing and taking a seat at the bar next to the woman, Tulma looks at Kasumi before shaking her head.

"Onyx is easily the largest, tallest, and the strongest person I know. I'm sure the dent in the elevator is still there, isn't it? Besides that, he values his friends, his equipment, and most of all family. He's a good man, but he has lived a horrible life. Trust me; whatever life you had, no matter how rough you thought you had it, he'd trade it for anything that you wanted just to live it. He's seen more death and destruction than any of us has combined. That's all I'm going to say about him." She informs her, going back to finishing her drink while Kasumi sat and processed the information that she was given.

Oh how it would be the fuel to her endless teasing towards the poor girl: she had unwittingly given her all that she needed to get under her chitin.

"Sounds like this guy is important to both you and Scars, huh?"

"Scars?"

Kasumi's smirk disappeared as she rolled her eyes from beneath her hood, telling her that the word was a nickname for Garrus considering what had happened to him on Omega.

"Ah. Well yeah, I guess he's important to the both of us. He seemed lost when I first found him the streets, but after talking to Garrus about him we had let him join our vigilante group. That was almost three months ago, I think. But to answer your question again; yes, he's an important friend to the both of us."

Nodding at what she had said, Kasumi smiles at her before saying something that damn near made her choke.

"So… you want to take him for a night ride to the Palaven caverns, show him an experience that he'll never forget? I've been peeking through your omni-tool and I have to say this: you girl, are one _horny_ turian." She told her, laughing as Tulma begins coughing her lungs from her chest as she desperately tried to get her breath back from choking on her drink.

"I mean, I don't blame you: a lot of girls, even non-human ones, can't resist a man who's tall, dark, and mysterious with a tragic background. And girl, he has all of those traits nailed down and secured! Whew, if I had met him nearly ten years ago, I'd probably try to woo the man myself, so I can't say that I blame you." She teased, giggling at the sight of the turian struggling to regain her composure as her face is flushed blue from embarrassment.

"Wha- what? How did you get into my omni-tool! I have it locked down to respond only to me!"

"I hacked it. And that response of yours solidifies my assumptions: you like the man! Like as in, _wanting to have him rearrange your insides with his woo-woo._" She says, whistling the last part while pointing downwards towards her crotch area.

Groaning at having been caught, Tulma slams her head down on the table and doesn't move; having her secret thrown into the open by the kleptomaniac human that had that cursed smile crossing her features.

"I hate you."

"And I love our bonding sessions! Tell you what; I won't say anything to him and in return you get to tell me all of the juicy details about what happens, deal?"

Looking at the woman as if she had completely lost her mind, Tulma sat there completely stunned at what she had just propositioned from her.

"What?! I- I- NO! Why would anyone in their right mind do such a thing!"

"To avoid getting embarrassed and looking like a fool in front of their crush, potentially making themselves look like that to the person they're pining after for the rest of their lives. Not only that, but because I have a lot of connections to a lot of powerful individuals, individuals that can, oh I don't know, send someone's extranet history to someone else. Especially the rather… _interesting _and _lewd_ history."

Tulma's viewpoint and understanding of the woman had drastically changed in a complete and total 180 degrees: at first, she had thought the woman to work espionage and counter-intelligence when she was brought aboard the ship, but that was proven incorrect when she had learned that she was arguably the galaxy's best thief. But with what she had just said, this woman was slowly becoming, in Tulma's mind at least, Manerella, the turian spirit of mischief and roguery.

All in all, a nightmare for her.

"This is extortion and unfair."

"I'm a thief, I don't do fair, but I do love extortion. Well, what do you say?"

Sighing and hanging her head low, Tulma takes one last look at her half-filled glass before reaching over and downing its contents, before staring straight at the woman and saying a single word.

"Deal."

All that she was met with was that damned smile.

* * *

"So… what am I supposed to do with this thing?" Jacob asked in clear confusion, looking at the strange device that Onyx had laid in front of him on the table.

"That device is a storage device capable of holding just under a thousand terabytes of data. On it are schematics for weapons that are similar to my lancer; specifically, there's a sniper rifle that I want made from the schematics. It's called the longshot: a sniper rifle that fires a ballistic projectile that is deadly and accurate up to and over two miles. Make one for now, and maybe another later on down the road for myself and Garrus to use." He explained, crossing his arms over his chest as Jacob nods his head at the task given to him.

"Sure, I don't see a problem with that. All I need from you is the weapon caliber, as I'm definitely sure that it isn't the same as your magnum, rifle, and shotgun. And the last thing is for you to unlock the info from me."

Nodding at the requests, Devin picks up the storage device and inserts it into his omni-tool, after asking Mordin to work on it to allow him to insert the device without having the need to do it from a terminal, before unlocking the information that was held within. Downloading the files for the weapon and the ammo, Devin locks the device before sending them to Jacob.

"I'm trusting you with these, okay? After you're done, promise me that you'll delete them from your omni-tool because I don't want your organization getting ahold of any of these weapons."

"Not a problem, and if Miranda asks me why I got rid of them, I'm going to tell her that these weapons are outdated ballistic weapons and that there's already modern-day counterparts to them. Which, in all honesty, I'm not wrong. The revenant, the carnifex, the scimitar, and the widow are said counterparts. If she doesn't like it, then oh well, she can get over it." He tells him, shaking the man's hand much to Devin's relief.

"I really do appreciate it. The caliber is a 12.7x99mm with over 850 grains of powder within each bullet casing, or a 50 caliber. Just a heads up: this thing will absolutely fuck your shoulder up, if you don't prepare yourself."

**(I'm not sure if this is true or not for the longshot, as everything I pulled up about it never listed a bullet caliber, so I just went with something that would go with the sniper easily. Mainly from analyzing the barrel width and thickness, along with the bullet that is loaded within the breach chamber.)**

With that said, Devin leaves the man so that he could start on the project that he had given him; and Devin couldn't help but think about what Garrus would do and say when he gets to shoot it.

Something along the lines of, _"Damn this thing is heavy; fuck me, it feels as if my shoulder is dislocated!"_

That last thought made him smile.

* * *

"So EDI, who's next on our list for recruits?" Shepard asks aloud, lying on his bed within his personal cabin as he surfs through his omni-tool in boredom.

"Up next on the dossiers for potential recruits in a human female simply named Jack: a biotic that Cerberus has deemed as a must have for this mission. She is located in a space station named Purgatory; a station designed as a prison in space to deter any would-be escapees or rioters from acting out of line. The station is located in the Hourglass Nebula, the Osun system. Flight lieutenant Moreau is en-route there, as we speak." EDI informed him, causing Shepard to shut his omni-tool off and stretch as he gave a yawn.

"What's our ETA?"

"Two hours, twenty-eight minutes, and seven seconds."

Nodding at the answer, Shepard didn't move a muscle when he was informed of this. To him, it was heaven.

"Wake me up when we get inthe system, will you? And tell Garrus and Grunt to get ready as well, they're coming with me." He told her, leaning his back on the pillow and closing his eyes to get some sleep before the mission.

"At once, Shepard."

This made him smile, not because his orders were being carried out but because he could get a couple hours of sleep before he had to get ready to get the convict.

* * *

EDI had informed Shepard that they were fifteen minutes from boarding Purgatory, which gave him, Garrus, and Grunt just enough time to get their gear together and head for the docking chamber.

With the three of them waiting in the chamber, Joker had docked within the station and then informed the ground team that they can disembark.

Nodding at his team, Shepard pops his neck and walks through the open door with him already thinking about ways that the mission could go wrong at any moment. Some has called him cynical for having these thoughts, but to him it never hurts to be prepared for the worst. His dad and his mom had told him to always pray for the best but prepare for the worst, and many times throughout his career in the Alliance had those words saved his ass when things went to hell in a handbasket.

Walking down the hallway with his squad in tow, Shepard looked around and noticed that the lighting seemed dim and that there were three Blue Suns members waiting for them at the end of the hallway; seemingly at ease, judging by their relaxed postures and their weapons at low-ready.

Stepping up to the lead guard, a turian, Shepard is stopped before he could continue any further, with the turian telling him that his package is being prepped and will be waiting for him. He then told him that he would need to relinquish his weapons, due to the nature of the station and everyone that is held within it.

Shepard was, understandably, reluctant and cautious of the request; his experiences with mercs throughout his life never painted them in a good light.

"Sorry, but I can't do that." He tells the guard, his arms crossed over his chest as he shook his head.

At this point did another turian show up, this one showing that he was obviously the man in charge of the entire station.

"Everyone, stand down. Commander, I'm Warden Kuril, and this is my ship." He introduced himself, which confirmed Shepard's assessment of the man as being the one in charge.

"Your weapons will be returned on the way out. You must realize that this is just a standard procedure for people coming here and getting a package of two off this station."

Shepard was having none of it.

"It's my standard procedure to keep my gun." He retorted, not budging or giving Kuril any room to work with.

After staring each other down, Kuril relented, telling his men to let the three of them proceed and that the facility is more than capable of handling three armed guests.

"We're bringing Jack out of cryo, and ass soon as the funds clear, you can be on your way. If you'll follow me to Outprocessing for the pickup, commander."

With that situation behind them, the group of people heads through the door leading further into the station, with Kuril explaining everything about the station and the prisoners that reside within it.

Shepard decided to learn more about the person that they came for.

"Can you tell me about Jack?"

At the question, the turian seemed to get uncomfortable, unconsciously rubbing his talons together as he answers the question.

"You mean, Cerberus haven't told you? Jack is the meanest handful of violence and hate I've ever encountered. Dangerous, crazy, and very powerful. You'll see soon enough."

"How did you end running this ship?"

Having been more than eager to get off the subject about Jack, Kuril had explained that he was originally law enforcement back on Palaven, and that he got sick of seeing criminals escaping out into the galaxy to continue their crimes. Stating that bounty hunters aren't dependable, he went on to tell him that he came up with this idea about keeping criminals in space to make the galaxy safer.

That made Shepard skeptical about the man's ethics and principles.

"You do this because you think it's necessary?"

"Everyday, I see the worst that sapient life has to offer: governments are soft, unwilling to make the hard choices. Someone had to stand up and make the galaxy safe."

"Well, maintaining a population this size can't be cheap."

"We can cut corners that governments can't. And each prisoner brings in a fee from his or her homeworld. These individuals are violent, and their home planets pay well to keep them here."

Shepard had asked him about what would happen if they don't pay, to which Kuril had then explained that they wouldn't be able to maintain the prisoner without the help, as such they'll be forced to drop the criminal off on their homeworld.

Hearing this made Grunt speak up for the first time.

"You scare the homeworlds with the prisoners."

It wasn't a question, but a statement made from the observations that he had gathered.

"You don't have to agree with my methods, but don't question my motives. These are despicable people and I am keeping them locked up." He defended, not taking too kindly to the krogan's response.

Now it was time for the group to head further into the station, with Kuril leaving the trio to follow the path that lies ahead of them. When they passed the corner and turned to face the hallway that led them to their destination, Shepard stops as they witness a guard looking into a cell while his partner was beating an inmate.

It reminded him a little too much of the batarians and how'd they treat prisoners when he was fighting on Elysium.

Garrus made a comment that a prisoner would admit to anything, even if it was a lie, to make the pain stop. He then made another comment that if Onyx were here in his place, bodies would probably be littering the hallways, because the man absolutely hates the idea of people being tortured and on top of that, he hates the Blue Suns for what they did on Omega.

When Shepard asked him about it, Garrus merely explained that within his life, he's seen it on a day to day basis and it ingrained itself within the man's mind that if needless torture is being used, then the person doing it needs to experience it seven-fold.

Nodding at having gained a little more information about the mysterious squad mate, Shepard steps up to the turian and clears his throat to gain his attention, then he decides to ask him about what is happening within the cell.

"Is there something I can do for you?"

"There's no excuse for beating a prisoner who can't fight back."

"This is a massage, compared to what his victims went through."

Shepard repressed a sneer that the merc gave him from the comment so he decided to use another tactic.

Intimidation.

"I wasn't asking."

At this, the turian turned to look at him directly, telling him that he's making demands on a ship full of highly armed and dangerous mercenaries with cameras everywhere.

"Really now? The way I see it, those guns and cameras that you are so confident in won't be fast enough to save your ass when I put a bullet in between your damn eyes." Shepard told him, his eyes narrowing at the guard, daring him to say something to him.

The turian relented, stepping back from the human before telling his partner to stop the beating.

Satisfied that he got his way, Shepard moved down the hallway before stopping to talk to a couple of the prisoners that had gotten their attention; one was wanting to leave the station and the other was just plain creepy.

Upon entering the room for Outprocessing, a technician tells them to go to the far side of the room to wait for their package, which in all honesty made the three of them wary about the whole situation.

Shouldn't the warden be here to sign off on the processing, and if so, you'd think there'd be more people within the room to act as security forces.

Something was definitely up.

With their guard up and body ready to react to anything that can and will go wrong for them.

Upon reaching the door, it became obvious that it was indeed a trap that they had walked into.

Just their luck.

"My apologies Shepard; you're more valuable as a prisoner than a customer. Drop your weapons and proceed into this open cell. You will not be harmed." Warden Kuril told them over the intercom, his motives blatantly obvious.

Shepard rolled his eyes at the demand.

"Go to hell. Better yet, I'll send you there myself."

"Activate systems!" He shouted, ordering his men and everyone aboard the station to engage hostilities with Shepard and his squad.

And now the fighting commences; with eight mercs and four FENRIS mech rushing into the room firing at the three of them.

"You know, whenever we first showed up here my first thoughts were exactly, _'How could this go wrong? Oh wait, I know, exactly as the same as every other experience with mercs!'_ Damn, for once I wish we just something would go right for us." Shepard lamented, grabbing his rifle and popping in a fresh thermal clip and begins taking shots back at the mercs hiding behind cover.

"Since when has anything ever went right for us? And before you say defeating Saren and Sovereign, need I remind you that we had to nuke a planet, crawl through ruins and debris, get attacked by animals, burned, electrocuted, poisoned, almost got hypothermia, shot, stabbed, punched, kicked, I'm sure someone spit on me once, and half of the Presidium getting wrecked, along with several human ships before we defeated them?" Garrus retorted, firing his rifle at anyone who didn't duck behind cover quick enough or were coming through the door.

Shepard stopped before shrugging, knowing that his friend was right about all of those things, even though he'll never admit to accidentally spitting on him when they were on Noveria, before ditching his original plan entirely in favor to get them through this mess of an operation.

Guess he'll have to resort to plan b then.

Finishing the firefight in the room, the three of them leaves the room and heads to the hallway that branches to their left, meeting opposition in the form of a few mercs armed with rifles and shotguns, but they were easily dispatched. On the other side of the door was a technician, possible the one from a few minutes ago, armed with a pistol.

Shepard merely looked at the man before jabbing his thumb behind him, telling the man to leave as soon as possible.

The technician did so without complaint or resistance.

Walking up to the controls, Shepard activates them even when Grunt told him that it'd open every single cell block on the station, and with the room in front of them housing Jack having its cell released, the woman they came for quickly took advantage of her newfound freedom.

Grunt was eager to see what the woman had done to the mechs that were in charge of guarding her cell, judging by the giddy sounds he was making as if he was in anticipation from the sight that was waiting for them down below.

* * *

She was cold, cold and she couldn't see.

She doesn't like experiencing either of those things. Numerous events and scenarios played out in ways that would have her experience whatever the person putting her through it had waiting for her. But something happened; she could barely hear things now. Hearing things now and the darkness was slowly disappearing caused her to quickly regain her wits and senses.

Just in time to see a group of large mechs readying their weapons to kill her.

She loved to disappoint them, because there is no way in hell that she will get herself killed by these machines.

Glowing blue with her biotics flaring, Jack snarls at them before unleashing her attacks onto them.

* * *

Having to fight through roughly forty or fifty mercs, about a dozen mechs, and having to navigate debris from the exploding station was really grating on Shepard's nerves. None of it made for an ideal setting for any type of firefight.

Now entering yet another room, the group found the man that they were most definitely going to kill: Warden Kuril. He was on an overlook armed with his revenant machine gun shooting any prisoner that were in his sights with lethal proficiency. Upon spotting them, he opens fire and tells them that he was valuable and that he would've lived like a king had everything gone accordingly. However, he was just too much trouble and that he could always recapture Jack.

"Not happening! You're a two-bit slave trader and I don't have the time for it!

"I do the hard things that civil governments are unwilling to! This is for the good of the galaxy!"

With that brief encounter finished, both parties begin shooting at each other, with over a dozen more mercs joining the fray and a very powerful shield/barrier forming around Kuril, protecting him from any and all fire.

Upon killing a couple of the mercs, Garrus pointed out that there were shield pylons that were powering the barrier, telling Shepard that if they were to take this power mad fanatic out for good, they need to destroy those pylons.

"Good eye, Garrus! Think you can take them out while Grunt and I mop up the mercs?" Shepard asked, switching his rifle out for a shotgun to better suit the close-range and tight corners that they had found themselves in.

"Already on it!" Garrus replies, sending a round straight through one of the pylons and weakening the barrier, which causes the mercs to double up on their efforts to kill them.

"One down, two to go!"

At this time, Grunt takes out his shotgun and screams three words that the two of them will always associate him with.

"I AM KROGAN!"

With that war cry, the krogan begins putting shot after shot into any unfortunate merc that was within his sight and distance, effectively sending them retreating to find better cover.

Shepard shook his head but said nothing, instead focusing on another generator that he could easily shoot at, and destroying it.

With the krogan having everyone's attention, it was easy for both Shepard and Garrus to find a line of sight so that they could permanently decommission the last pylon, which just so happens to bring the barrier down and leaving Kuril exposed with little to no cover.

With Garrus using his sniper rifle, Shepard using his assault rifle, and Grunt keeping the last few mercs focused on him, it took no less than a total of ten shots to shatter Kuril's shields, pierce his armor, and sending his brain through the back of his head, killing him once and for all. After witnessing the death of their leader, the remaining mercs gathered all of their supplies and wounded and left the station, their intentions obvious enough the three of them that they wouldn't become a problem anymore.

And that left just one more thing for them to worry about: Jack.

Looking up and seeing that the woman is currently running towards a couple of guards, Shepard tells the others to follow him to the staircase that led up to that level so that they can finally the person they came here for.

With that done, it only took less than thirty seconds for them to see the woman pacing around and throwing her arms wildly in a fit of rage. Taking the chance to shoot a merc that was sneaking up from behind her, Shepard holsters his pistol (**which, like before, is a shuriken smg and not a pistol, friggin Bioware…**) and approaches her.

"What the hell do you want?" She demands, her voice full of anger and suspicion towards the group of unknowns that suddenly appeared.

"I just saved your ass." Shepard tells her, trying to play into the role of a renegade so that the woman can deal with something that is remotely familiar.

"He was already dead; he just didn't know it. Now, what the hell do you want?" She asks again, her question not being answered by the man when she wanted it.

"My name is Shepard and I'm going to get you off this ship."

She had a sneer adorning her features when he said that, telling him that she wasn't going anywhere with him because he's Cerberus.

This made Shepard groan in frustration, taking a deep breath to plan his words and formulate them into a sentence that'll be sure to get him what he wants.

And if Shepard wants something, he's going to get it.

"I'm here to ask for your help."

"You show up in a Cerberus frigate to take me away somewhere. You think I'm stupid?" She asks hostilely, pointing at the ship and the emblem that is currently emblazoned on it.

"This ship is going down in flames; we can sit here and argue about it or we can leave."

"Just shoot her and patch her up on the ship." Grunt suggested, not phased in the slightest by the snarl that the human had sent his way.

She didn't intimidate him and she hasn't proven anything to him, unlike Onyx; that human had fractured his jaw and his eye socket during their fight when he was released from the tank that Okeer had him in. He proved himself, she hasn't.

"I'd like to see you try." Came the remark from the woman, to which Shepard intervened and said that no one is shooting anyone.

"Smart choice, now if you want me to come with you, make it worth my while." She propositioned, gaining Shepard's attention immediately.

"Join my team and I'll do what I can." He told her, causing her to raise an eyebrow at him.

"Don't make a promise if you can't keep it. I bet your ship has got lots of Cerberus databases on it. I want to look at those files, see what Cerberus has got on me. You want me on your team, let go through those databases." She explained, her reasoning and demands simple enough for Shepard to accept without a second thought.

"I'll give you full access." He told her, agreeing completely with the woman's requests.

Jack nodded at that, telling him that he better be straight-up with her, she then goes on and asks them about why the hell were they standing there and not leaving. This prompted Shepard to move and the others to follow him back to the Normandy. And when they boarded, they finally left the station and returned to obit near the mass relay.

All in all, a mission success if Shepard had anything to say about it.

* * *

Jack wasn't in the mood for any bullshit, especially when she had information about Cerberus to look up; thanks to Shepard actually upholding his end of their deal. That honestly surprised her, not because he agreed to it so easily, but because he _actually_ kept his word.

No one kept their word, especially for her.

Shrugging off the thought, she had made her way to the elevator after leaving the briefing room, threatened the ginger lady who kept asking way too many questions for her liking, and hit the panel on the wall for the engineering level: there had to be a place down there that was well away from anyone, and from her experiences there generally was.

With the doors opening up, she is stopped by what appears to be the tallest and beefiest human or batarian she's ever seen: she stood around five-seven or eight, but this guy was well over a foot taller than her, easily standing close to seven feet. That and what got her attention was the armor that the guy had on; it doesn't look like anything that she's ever seen before, the skull that was inside of a cog (of all things), and a smaller cog that was in the center of his utility belt. That and the blue-glowing eye ports were somewhat unsettling, not that she'd ever admit that to anyone in her entire life.

"What the fuck?" They both said at the same time, one out of confusion about seeing a near topless woman and the other doing it from the observations that were just made.

Narrowing her eyes at the man, Jack told the man to get out of her way or she'll forcefully move him.

"Right, listen ma'am; I'm not in the least bit intimidated by you, add in the fact that you're more than a foot shorter than me, topless, and confused doesn't help your case. Now I just finished wrestling a krogan who has the mindset of a rebellious teenager because he wanted to spar within his room right there," he tells her, pointing at a door to his right that was down the hallway, "and not in the hangar bay. Now I have to see the doctor because I'm sure that the headbutt he gave me might cause a migraine later on. Even with my… forget it; migraines aren't fun and I'd like a little bit of meds to get rid of them, even if they last only an hour for me." He tells her, stepping into the elevator as Jack stepped off before turning around and stopping himself from pressing one of the buttons as he caught her staring at him.

"What?"

"Who in the fuck are you and why are you wrestling a krogan?" She asked him, looking at the door that led to the krogan's room being wide open with the krogan that she had met on purgatory coming out of it with a busted mouth and one of his eyes beginning to swell.

"Call me Onyx, and Grunt right there said something about wanting to have a rematch to which I agreed. However, I wasn't expecting him to just fucking _hit me_ after I had agreed to his request. With that in mind- GRUNT, GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE!" He orders the krogan, Jack stepping out of the way to let him through while Grunt was chuckling to himself the entire time.

And here she thought that she was going to be the only crazy and mean bitch on this ship.

With the elevator closing, Jack shook her head and turned to the door on her right, entering it and seeing a staircase that led down a level. Smiling to herself at finding the perfect spot for her to settle down in, Jack walks down the stairs and discovers that she was correct about her assumptions; now all she needed was a bed or a cot to sleep on, a crate or two to act as a table, and solitude from everyone else on the ship.

The perfect place for her to stay in, in other words.

* * *

Shepard shrugged at what Joker had said, he wasn't really paying attention to begin with, but he could make an accurate guess as to what the man was talking about.

"I wouldn't want to go and think about what would happen down that road Joker, not only that but please don't say something like that again." He told the man, and if he was right about the guess of the topic that he was on-

"Oh come one, commander! Just picture it: you in your battle-worn armor fresh out of major fight, standing tall and mighty, and everyone surrounding you, praising you for being the savior of the universe. You can have whatever you want: credits, power, the ladies, a place to live, or several, and anything you desire! Hell, a few weeks back, I heard a song on the extranet literally named after you! Had a catchy ring too, if I have to be honest… Anyways, why settle for boring when you can be amazing?"

"Because Joker, boring is easy to manage, doesn't require any planning, and best of all: it isn't exciting. Besides, becoming a spectre already granted me a lot power, I already have a home on a small colony that I won from Admiral Kahern, not only that but my spectre funds from our mission against Saren finally came in." He told him, looking down at the man with a grin on his face.

Joker looked at him quizzically, raising an eyebrow as he asked him how much he had on him.

"Right now? Eh… like two hundred thousand credits, in the bank, however, over ten million easily. Maybe even twenty."

With that information out in the open, Joker looked at the man with a deadpan expression, before opening his mouth to say something, until Shepard cut him off.

"No, you cannot have access to any of my funds. Especially for your… hobbies."

"Aw you're no fun." Joker pouted, returning his attention to the piloting controls ahead of him as Shepard shook his head at the man.

It was at this moment did Shepard decide to visit Mordin to see how far he's made it with the collector swarm countermeasure, things like that were important to know and he needed them installed onto everyone's gear as soon as humanly (**salarianly?**) possible.

* * *

"What did I tell you two about fighting on the ship, in an enclosed area, with reckless abandon the last time you were here?"

"Not to do it, unless there is an area cordoned off in the hangar bay, and even then, it needs to be approved by the commander and you."

Chakwas was berating the two giants in front of her, more-so Grunt than Devin due to him starting it, about causing damage to the ship and the interior. She doesn't need two of the strongest members of the ground team going at it with each other on a normal occasion just because of a _'rematch'_.

Sighing to herself, Chakwas shook her head and grabbed a bottle of meds for Devin's migraine and gave it to the man, handing him a paper cup of water so that he could have something to drink it with.

Nodding his thanks to the woman, Devin takes the pills and the water and downs them both in one go, before crumbling the cup and tossing it in the trash-bin.

"I don't want to see you either of you in here again because of you two fist-fighting with each other. Not only that, but I'm very sure that there was more damage than the two of you let on so someone will have to fix that. Now go on and go about your day, I don't want to see either of you two in here again for at least a week." She tells them, pointing at the both of them sternly as both Devin and Grunt nodded at her request.

At least Grunt knew it was wise to not go against the doctor's wishes.

Now it was time for Devin to find out where Tulma is, he hasn't seen her all day; ever since she and Kasumi were together in the lounge talking about whatever.

"_Probably busy with her gear or something."_ He thinks to himself as he puts his helmet back on, shrugging at the guess before he set off to find her.

He didn't have to search for long, seeing as he had literally walked right over her as he turned the corner while he was headed for the elevator. He then reached out and quickly grabbed her, one hand holding her arm and the other by her waist, holding her tight so that she wouldn't lose anymore of her balance.

It was only a few seconds later that it registered in his mind about the position that he was in: leaned over her with her breath hitched in her throat, holding her tightly against his chest, looking into her wide open, beautiful soft blue eyes with his own hidden behind his helmet, both of them not moving a muscle.

That was, until they heard the sound of an omni-tool taking a picture.

Both of them turn and sees Kasumi with the largest smile on her face that they have ever seen, her omni-tool active and raised and she waves at them with her free hand.

"Oh, don't mind me; I'm just getting some good pictures and footage of the two of you together. It'd be perfect if Prince Charming would give the princess a kiss, you know." She teased, winking at them as they quickly scramble out of each other's grasps.

Tulma's skin that wasn't covered by the carapace was getting bluer and bluer by the second, while Devin's entire face was red from embarrassment.

Oh how he wanted to die at that moment, and that he was thanking god that he had his helmet on to hide his embarrassment.

"It's- it's not… it's not what it looks like! She fell, and I- I uh- caught her and uh…" Devin stuttered out, his mind failing to come up with a response as Tulma was trying to do the same and failing just as he was.

Kasumi was laughing the entire time.

"Uh-huh, sure you did stud. Just find a room together and none of it would be witnessed. On second thought actually, do it in the open more often; it makes for golden opportunities for me to get all the material that I need. Ta-ta!" She tells them, vanishing from sight before they could stop her.

Why must fate and the universe be going against them?

With the situation over, Tulma kept thinking about her being cradled by him, him pressing her against his armored chest, looking into her eyes with his own... somewhat, and how fast and gentle he was when he had caught her from falling down.

It was… exhilarating for her, a feeling that she wished had happened to her when he wasn't wearing that large and dense armor.

With that out of the way, they both quickly apologize before heading their separate ways: one heading to the hangar bay, and the other going to the crew's quarters to get out of the open.

But for a brief moment, when they were in each other's grasp, everything felt right to the both of them.

* * *

**And that wraps it up for this chapter! In my honest opinion, Jack's recruitment mission was by far the most boring one, and I guess I let a little bit of that seep into the chapter. Sorry about that. Anyways, it seems as if Kasumi now has two victims painted in her sights, each of them wearing a target that is as large, if not larger, than themselves. Poor, poor Devin and Tulma; their lives are going to get interesting for sure, especially with that last scene.**

**Anyways, up next is the Horizon mission where the crew will have their first engagement with collector forces and the siege of the colony itself. Not only that, but I plan to write the chapter into two parts: one is in the main perspective of the game that we see with Shepard and co, while the other will be written for another group's perspective. I hope that it's okay if I split the chapter into two parts, mainly because if I were to write into one chapter, the word count would be well over 16k words and that's a lot of words, sentences, and paragraphs that needs editing.**

**This wraps everything up for us, and I will see you all in two weeks!**


	12. Blood on the Horizon

**Hello everyone, glad to see you all here again! I hope everyone's two weeks were great and that you all had a good time with either schooling or work. As for me? I've been good, got a new job which I start next Saturday so I have a source of reliable income to do my hobbies and pay for bills. As for Gears 5? I haven't bought it yet, and for good reason: I'm the type of person to wait at least a couple weeks to a month after a game comes out so that any bugs or glitches that are within the game can be patched and fixed, that way I won't have a negative view towards it when I'm playing it for the first time. No spoilers for that game! Or else, I will spoil this story (not really)! Moving on from that, today is one of my best friend's birthday, he's one of the three morons that I and another friend are a part of, and he gets to celebrate his 20th today. So, if you're reading this William, happy birthday you ginger haired, golem looking, lanky piece of wet spaghetti noodle. Since last chapter, we have had over a staggering 2200 views (7400), which is over a third of our total views, six reviews (34), eleven followers (55), and thirteen favorites (59)! Oh my god, thank you all so much for everything that you all have given me. I very much appreciate it.**

**Review Time:**

**Blaze: Yeah, I thought about doing that, but considering the email that Billy sends you describes him being _rescued_ (I use this term loosely) he does tell him that he had to a couple of days before he got off that station. So... that's a thing. As for Kasumi and her bar privileges? Take them all you want, but trust me man, she'll take them right back from you _and_ your couch. And finally the glitches from Bioware games: I'm not hating on them, on the contrary, I find them hilarious whenever I do notice them. For instance, in ME3, when you are rescuing Tarquin Victus, you can stumble upon a body of a dead turian that you loot. However, when you do decide to do it, the prompt says, and I'm not lying, _Salvage Junk_. I laughed so hard at that, I was on the verge of tears.**

**ArchAngel: Thank you again for review! I appreciate it and here's another chapter for you to enjoy!**

**Crazy: Thank you for the review, and as I said to ArchAngel; here's another chapter for you to read and enjoy!**

**Deadra: Thanks Deadra, I appreciate the feedback and the other fic is doing well, but it won't be posted until later on in the year. Maybe sometime in late November or early December, idk.**

**STALKER: Thank you, I figured that having a healing factor would spice some things up in this story and I'm glad to see that the idea was well received amongst you all! As for your second review: you're the first person to figure out that you can type whatever swear and vulgarity you want and it not be censored; have fun with that everyone. And before the Russian class took over, we had a Latin class that wasn't too big, so the school had it shut down for whatever reason. And the Russian teacher was an ex-Navy communications officer who was stationed on the west coast, forgot where exactly, and that he had to completely learn another language within six months to qualify for the job, so he chose Russian.**

**End of reviews.**

**Hope you all enjoy this chapter, and as I stated in the last one, this will be split into two parts and that next chapter will come out next Monday. See you all then! Leave a review, follow, or a favorite if you'd like! They aren't necessary, but are very much appreciated!**

* * *

**Chapter Twelve: Blood on the Horizon**

"The Illusive Man wishes to speak with you in the debriefing room, commander." Kelly said aloud, turning to look at Shepard as he passed by her on his way to the elevator.

Sighing at the news, Shepard shook his head at the notification before correcting his path and heading through the armory doors, only to stop as he sees Jacob working on two very odd-looking objects on a workbench.

Deciding that his so-called boss could wait for a few more minutes, he stepped right beside the man before leaning in to get a closer look at whatever he was working on. Doing so gained the attention of the man, who stopped doing whatever it was that he was doing and asked him if there was anything that he could help him with.

"No, just curious as to whatever you're working on here. So… what are you working on?"

Jacob sat the tool that he had in his hand down, before stretching his arms and back and sighing in satisfaction and looking at Shepard.

"Onyx gave me a schematic for making a couple of sniper rifles, some old ballistic type rifles similar to what he already has with him. And from the specs that I've been working with, this thing is a monster of a rifle Shepard: it fires the old fifty caliber anti-material round that is damn near, if not equal, to what the widow can fire, the rifle scope here has a rangefinder and a variable zoom function which can help tremendously with target acquisition, not only that but it's a breach shot too. One round is in the chamber at all times, for good measure too; any shot to the body is a guarantee dismemberment, if it doesn't tear you in half. Not only that, but the damn thing weighs nearly fifty pounds too, considering that it is mainly made from titanium and tungsten parts it'd make sense. He said to make one for him and another for Garrus, seeing as how he's probably the only person who has personal experience using the thing and Garrus being a damn good shot with a rifle." Jacob explains, picking up the closest rifle to him and looking it over before nodding in satisfaction at his craftsmanship.

Shepard could only whistle at the information that Jacob had just told him, his mind thinking about what it'd be like to get hit by the round that the weapon fired. Upon thinking about old military history, Shepard could only shake his head at the gruesome images that popped into his mind about that specific bullet.

"So what you're saying is that whoever gets shot by this thing, they're practically not getting back up again are they?"

"Not a chance in hell commander. The only one's that might take two shots are, unsurprisingly, krogan with some good shields. The first shot will definitely shatter the shield and the projectile will cause some damage, maybe a fracture or a broken bone, but the next shot will for sure kill the target. Besides, I already have some armor-piercing ammo made for both rifles and about a hundred rounds in total."

Nodding at what he had told him, Shepard told him that he could get back to finishing what he was doing because he had to speak to the Illusive Man about something that is urgent and requires his attention.

Saluting the man and turning back to the rifles, Jacob picks up another tool and resumes his work on it, wanting to get it done before both he and Garrus and to go on a mission.

Exiting the room and entering the debriefing room, Shepard activates the console at the head of the table, causing the table to lower and Shepard takes a couple of steps on it, waiting patiently as it scans him and establishes a link with the Illusive Man.

Upon the connection being established, the Illusive Man wastes no time with formalities and greetings.

"Shepard, I think we have them! Horizon- one of our colonies in the Terminus Systems, just went silent. If it isn't under attack, it soon will be. Has Mordin delivered the countermeasure for the seeker swarms?" He asks him, wanting to get the Normandy to Horizon as fast and as soon as possible to the colony before the chance is gone.

Shepard shook his head at the question, telling that he hasn't installed it into the armor systems of the ground team.

Taking another drag of his cigar, the Illusive Man couldn't help but form a small frown when he heard that.

"Better hope he works well under pressure. There's something else you should know: one of your former crew, Ashley Williams, is stationed on Horizon."

Perking up at the information that was dropped on him, Shepard asks him why she's out in the Terminus Systems, considering that last time he checked, she was still in the Alliance.

"Officially, it's an outreach program for the colonists to have an Alliance presence on the colony. But they're up to something. And if they sent her, it must be big. I suggest you take it up with her."

Well, that wasn't helpful at all.

Upon telling him that it couldn't have been a coincidence that the Collectors were attacking a colony that an old friend of his was on, to which the Illusive Man agreed. He then added on that Shepard had possibly gained the attention of the reapers and their proxies when he had defeated Sovereign, as such it could be seen that it was planned to attack the colony with him on it.

Shepard mentally agreed with the man on that at least.

Afterwards, Shepard told him to notify the Citadel and the Alliance, to which he was met with a negative from the man; having to explain to him that they needed to get there and gather any and all evidence before the others would get in their way. Though, he was told that he'd personally send them a message, once the situation was under control.

"Send the coordinate, my team and I will be there."

Taking one last drag from his cigar, the Illusive Man takes one look at Shepard, seriousness crossing his features.

"This is the most warning we've ever had, Shepard. Good luck."

Upon leaving the room, Shepard tells Joker to set course for Horizon, to which Joker accepts his order and does exactly what he was requested.

"One more thing: EDI, notify everyone on the ground team to head to the hangar bay; I want all hands on deck for this one."

"At once, Shepard."

It was time to go to war.

* * *

"Okay here's the plan for both ground teams: Onyx, due to your military experience, you are going to be leading the second ground team, consisting of you, Tulma, Grunt, Jacob, Tyler, and Kasumi. I will be taking Garrus, Miranda, Zaeed, Jack, and Mordin with me. Your mission is to find any survivors and get them to safety, this is your top priority. Be sure to gather any data about the collectors that you can, while we find a way to get these bastards off of this colony. Any questions?" Shepard asks the group, looking at all of them to see if any hands were raised or any gestures made to get his attention.

Seeing that none were made, Shepard nods his head and points at Mordin, telling everyone to get their countermeasure installed into their shield systems so that the seeker swarms wouldn't target them. With this out of the way, Shepard clasps his hands together and smiles at them, telling them to gather their weapons and head for the shuttles in the hangar bay.

With that out of the way, the meeting was dismissed and everyone was sent out to gather their gear and to board the two shuttles that were waiting for them; six headed to one and the other six headed to the other.

All in all, with the diversity that both groups have, it was easy to see that each and every last one of them were ready for the oncoming fight that lies ahead of them; and they were all ready and willing to kill every hostile that dared stand before them.

* * *

Upon landing on the surface Shepard and the others grabbed their weapons and readied them as they stepped off the shuttle, looking around and seeing the once beautiful landscape being tainted by the dark clouds that surrounded the collector ship and the collector presence.

Shaking his head, Shepard muttered to himself that a place as nice as this doesn't deserve what is currently happening to it.

"No kidding, bunch of farmers with nary a militia to keep them safe; poor bastards never even stood a chance." Zaeed said, grimacing at the sight of the colony being under siege by a much more superior force than what they were barely equipped to handle.

Garrus could only nod as he grabbed the rifle that Jacob had made for him, telling him that Onyx wanted him to use it and see what, and he quotes, _a real rifle feels like_.

"Besides, the damn thing weighs over fifty pounds. Too heavy for my tastes and the ammunition it uses is absurdly large as well." He says, pulling the bolt back and staring at the large caliber round that sat within with a bit of apprehension lacing his features.

"Well, I'm sure you'll be putting it to good use soon. Be sure to keep collateral damage to a minimum; that round that it fires is infamous for absolutely shredding its target and hitting whatever is behind what you're shooting at."

Garrus only nods as he stares at the round, pushing the bolt forward as he re-chambers the round and places the rifle on his back.

With the group now heading forward, Shepard asks Mordin if he's sure that the countermeasures would work, to which the salarian responded that it's impossible to be certain but they should be fine… in theory.

"In theory? That sounds promising." Garrus remarked, already feeling the many targets that were covering him for the swarms to… well, swarm.

"Experimental technology. Only test with contact will give us all we need. Looking forward to seeing if we survive!"

Shepard could already tell that this was going to be a long day.

"Quiet you two, Onyx how are things on your end?" Shepard tells both Garrus and Mordin, before activating his earpiece and contacting the second team for a sitrep.

"Situation nominal commander, just too fucking quiet on our end… and with how many people were supposedly living here, we should be seeing and hearing at least _some sign of life_ here." Onyx told him, to which Shepard had to agree with the man's assessment.

From the evidence of the surrounding area, it appears that the collectors haven't been here long, maybe an hour at most, but to see that the entire colony is dead silent is troubling: if they had a single ship with the capabilities to silence and subjugate an entire colony, then there was no telling what they could do with an entire fleet.

Upon coming around a bend, the group steps into an area with a load of equipment and storage boxes spread out through the area. And shortly after, a swarm consisting of roughly eight collectors fly into the area, not wasting any time as they instantly begin firing at all of them.

With the group now in cover, they begin returning fire at the collectors with either their weapons or their biotics, with proficiency.

Within a minute, four of the collectors were dead and another was injured, however Shepard and the others had their own injuries in the forms of burns and other wounds that were inflicted on them from the strange weapons that they wielded.

Now it was time for Garrus to use his brand-new rifle.

Falling back to the rock wall that was right beside the path they took, Garrus holstered his rifle and climbed up the wall within moments before coming to the top and going down to a prone position. With the longshot now within his grasp, Garrus flips the sight cover up and looks through it, seeing a foreign layout to the optics within the scope tinted a soft blue with an open sight in the middle and a range finder to the top right.

All in all, it was much easier on his eyes than the orange optics that came with most, if not all, rifles made nowadays. He likes this rifle already.

Taking aim at one of the collectors that were ducked behind cover, Garrus carefully inhales and exhales slowly as he pulls the trigger, feeling a click within the rifle before having it violently kick back and slam against his shoulder with significant force. This caused him to jerk back from the rifle and look up to see the collector that he had shot at was slumped against the cover it was using. However, slumped was a rather… generous way of putting it.

The collector was missing the entirety of its head and neck areas, flesh and bone was covering the vicinity that it was in, and that the other three were finished off due to them being distracted by the rather grotesque way that their friend (if you could call it that) had died from.

"Spirits… damn my shoulder hurts…" Garrus mutters to himself, looking down at the rifle and knowing that Devin wasn't lying when he told him that it would hurt for the first few times that he fired. He should've listened to him about how to properly fire the rifle and to take care of it for future use. And that the rifle had absolutely no form of recoil compensation within it.

Maybe he should take him up on his offer about how to use the rifle to its fullest potential.

Jumping down from the wall, Garrus holsters the rifle before grabbing his vindicator and catching up to Shepard.

"You okay?" He asks, looking at Garrus as he rolls his shoulder to alleviate any discomfort.

"I… don't know. That was time I've ever fired a ballistic weapon in my life." He answered, looking up at where he fired the weapon from before shaking his head.

"And my ears are ringing a bit."

"Yeah, that'll happen."

With that out of the way, the group moves on from the area, with Mordin and Miranda scanning the collector bodies for research purposes aboard the Normandy, before stumbling upon the first set of homes that symbolize that they have just now officially entered the colony.

When they finally enter, their comms line opens up with both Onyx and Joker attempted to contact them, but all that they heard was static and distorted words from the two of them.

"Collectors are disrupting our comms." Miranda said, voicing the thoughts of everyone as they continue on with their mission.

"We're on our own now."

Dropping down from the small ledge, the group has enough time to look up and see a small group of collectors fly into the area with guns blazing, sending a group of husks out in the open to charge them and act as cannon fodder and a distraction.

Jack is enveloped in a haze of biotic energy, using both of her hands to grab a couple of husks before slamming them into the ground, reducing the frail bodies to nothing more than a smear on the dirt and grass.

Zaeed wasn't far behind her, tossing a grenade out into the open before shooting whoever was flushed from their cover, the old man chuckling to himself at how easy it was to trick them into leaving cover.

"Dumb bastards; they always fall for that trick."

Mordin had sent out a few incinerates and an overload on whoever he could, playing a more supportive role than actual frontline combat; not that he couldn't do it, it's just the fact that everyone else already had that role filled out well enough. He's just happy sticking with the role that he put himself in.

Shepard could only smile as he watches his team perform beyond any expectation he had. Now the next step is to get them fully committed to this mission and to earn their trust; just like his last team.

He misses Kaiden and Jenkens, if only there was a way to get them back.

Shepard is brought from his thoughts when the sound of Garrus' new rifle booms across the impromptu battlefield, causing him to look over at Garrus and seeing his friend cursing while rubbing his shoulder with his free hand.

"Fucking hell, can you not shoot that thing when you're near us? My ears are fucking ringing and I'm sure that they're bleeding!" Jack screams at him, holding her head while Mordin waves his omni-tool over her, Miranda, and Zaeed.

"Some medi-gel, should alleviate any pain. Will tune your shields and any helmets you may have to include sound dampeners. Luckily I had thisshield already equipped with this feature... salarian ears... sensitive."

"Shut it, salamander!"

"Now, now kids, play nice." Shepard told them, only to receive a middle finger from Jack and a chuckle from Mordin.

Moving on, the group is met with an intact body of one of the husks from the recent firefight, but this one seemed… different.

"This husk looks human. The collectors must be using the colonists for raw materials." Zaeed muttered loud enough for the others to hear, crouching down to look at it as he twists the thing's head from side to side.

Garrus was quick to retort his assessment.

"No. The geth impaled their victims on giant spikes to turn them into husks. But… we haven't seen any here. The collectors must've already had the husks. They want the colonists alive for something else."

Shepard had to agree with that, they haven't seen any Dragon's Teeth on the colony; not that they weren't on the colony, they just weren't in sight if they were there. And using the colonists for something else was a dark assumption. One that was probably true.

"These collectors must be experimenting on the colonists. What are they up to? And these creatures aren't the same that I fought on Eden Prime. They're more advanced… evolved, even." Shepard told them, shaking his head before he reloaded his rifle and walked ahead, the group of people silently followed his lead as they walk past the husk.

That was when they came into contact with over a dozen or two pods, all of which were collector in origin. Upon closer look, it seemed as if there were people within the pods. All of which were creepy as hell to look at.

And that was when there were even more collectors hiding behind walls and crates, seemingly waiting for him and the others to get there.

And the same could be said about what happened at the last fight.

* * *

After finding a discarded collector weapon, and several colonists trapped within stasis fields, the group sees even more collectors flying in but before anything could happen, one of them started acting erratically as it twitched and spasms until it was lifted into the air and began glowing as a booming voice announced something that was sure to stay with them forever.

"**I am assuming direct control.**"

Then it began firing at them, seemingly more powerful and violent than before, it throwing out dark spheres of corrupted biotic energy which sent Miranda straight to her back as her shields were steadily draining from the after effects from the attack that hit her.

"FOCUS FIRE ON THE GLOWING ONE!" Shepard ordered, the group of six people getting into cover as they fired at the enhanced enemy, but all it did in return was throw up a powerful barrier that stopped most of their weapons from harming it.

Then Shepard gained an idea.

"Garrus, grab that rifle of yours and load an armor piercing round into it and shoot this fucker right in the head."

"Nuh-uh, my shoulder is killing me."

"Do it now Garrus, this could be a chance to see if that old round is capable of one-shotting this ugly freak."

Garrus groaned in frustration before loading the AP round into the longshot then took aim at the lead collector.

"**You will not succeed in your endeavors, Shepard. And the interloper will be studied to it's entirety.**" It told them, already pissing the group off as Shepard narrowed his eyes at the thing.

Then Garrus pulled the trigger, sending the round straight through the barrier and out the back of it and directly into the seemingly possessed collector's head and utterly destroying it, sending the carcass straight to the ground before it dissolved into nothingness.

However, it had one last thing to say before fading:

"**We will meet again.**"

With that experience out of the way, they quickly finish killing the rest of the collector forces before making their way to a large set of doors that were locked down.

With the being hacked open, they six of them enters the room and sees that it appeared to be a type of utilities shed. However, when they entered the shed, they heard something in the corner and trained their weapons on the source of the noise, which just so happened to be a man who was hiding from the attack that was happening outside.

Upon seeing that they weren't hostile, the man sighed in relief before stepping out.

"You're- you're human! What the hell are you doing out her? You'll lead them right here!" He questioned, seemingly beyond scared at what was happening.

"You had to have heard them trying to get. The collectors tried getting in when we arrived." Shepard responded, crossing his arms as he looked at the man.

The man was taken aback by what he had said, turning around and speaking more to himself than Shepard. Afterwards, he started to get emotional as the realization that his friends were gone as he looks towards the commander.

Shepard needed the man to focus.

"Who are you, what is your name and what do you do here?" He asked him, getting his attention off the morbid subject.

"I'm Delan, a mechanic. I came down here to check on the main grid after we lost our comm signals. Then I heard _screaming_. I looked outside and there was… swarms of bugs. Everyone they touched just froze. Afterwards, I sealed the doors. Dammit, it's the Alliance's fault! They stationed that Williams here and built those defense towers. It made us a target!"

Hearing the name of his old friend Shepard perked up a bit, then asked the man everything that he knew about what happened and about Williams.

"Tell me more about this Alliance rep."

Delan began to explain that she was some sort of hero, and that it didn't matter to him and that she should've stayed in Council Space.

About being asked as to why she was here, Delan told him that it supposed to be helping them set up the towers and nothing else that he could think of.

When questioned about the defense towers, Delan told him that they were high-powered GUARDIAN lasers that were supposed to keep hostile ships from near the colony and that they had to build massive batteries underground to power it, but even then, they couldn't get the targeting systems online.

"Not that it helped. The Alliance gave us a giant gun that couldn't shoot straight. Stupid sons-of-bitches." He muttered disdainfully.

"Why do you think this is the Alliance's fault?"

"We're just a small colony. Nobody bothered us before we started building those damn defense towers and drew attention to ourselves. I left Council Space to get away from the Alliance. Nothing good ever comes from getting mixed up with them."

Shepard attempted to defend the Alliance, but the man was just not having anything from it, stating that there were too many strings attached for their help.

Upon telling him that they could use those towers to push the collectors off of the colony, Delan tells them that they would need to calibrate the target systems before they power it up, to which Garrus said that one of them could do it themselves. Afterwards, they were given directions to the towers and that the controls were at the base of it.

With that out of the way, they all leave the shed and venture out to next area, this one was more of a populated center with more home-like structures and less agricultural areas. That and there were nearly a dozen collectors and husks that began attacking them from afar or charging straight at them with reckless abandon. Then one of the collectors had floated into the air as it was possessed by whoever was controlling them.

"**We are the harbinger of your destruction.**" It boomed out, releasing several spheres of tainted biotic energy at the group with the intent to kill.

And that was the first time that they came into contact with a new type of enemy, this one looking like a human that had a giant bulb-like protrusion coming from it and a gun-like weapon that fired biotic energy blasts at the group.

"Aw shit… looks like they upgraded." Shepard heard Zaeed mutter, to which he couldn't help but agree.

Why did the weird things always happen to him?

* * *

With _harbinger_ dead and whatever the abomination of a husk that they had finally killed on the ground with numerous holes in it and a limb completely severed, thanks to Garrus who was getting used to the new rifle that he was given.

Maybe Shepard should ask Onyx for a weapon similar to his.

With Miranda and Mordin looking around for the gate controls on the overhang that lies above them, everyone had gathered all of their gear and reloaded all of their weapons in preparation for the final push to get the tower online and a weapon that would push the collectors off of the colony.

"Found the controls up here, commander. Gate should be opened any second now, so we'll meet you down there in a minute." Mordin yelled from above, gathering everyone's attention as both he and Miranda made their way back down to the others.

With everyone regrouped, they step through the doors and comes face to face with two of the abominations from before and everyone then takes cover yet again to get away from the concussive waves that it shoots out, as husks were starting to pour into the area as well.

Shepard just hopes that Onyx and the others would get here soon enough, because he's certain that there's going a be a massive influx of hostiles coming to attack him and the others at any moment.

* * *

With husks coming at them and the two abomination things firing at them, it was a terrible experience for the squad, knowing that the situation needed to handled well enough so that they can activate the towers. But considering that there were only a dozen husks and two things, his group of six heavily armed individuals easily took care of the problem, Jack and Shepard using shotguns to aid Miranda and Mordin by focusing on the husks meant that Zaeed and Garrus could use their rifles to take care of the two larger targets.

And within a minute, the last enemy fell when Shepard shoved it to the ground and fired his last shotgun shell into its head, killing it immediately.

"Alright everyone, look around for thermal clips and if you find any, restock your supply. If there's medi-gel use it right now to heal any wounds or save it for later, whichever you're more comfortable with."

With that said, Shepard radios the Normandy, hoping that the signal has cleared up enough for him to get a line established with Joker.

"Normandy, do you read me?"

"Joker here. Signal's weak, Shepard, but we got you." Joker answered, trying to maintain connection with the ground team on his end with the help of EDI.

"Any word from Onyx?"

"Yeah, the guy radioed in about five minutes ago, telling us that they have completed their objectives as much as they could before telling me that they are going to regroup with you at your location. ETA is roughly four minutes." Joker told him, passing the information along as Onyx had requested of him to do for him.

Shepard nodded his head at the information, at least glad that they would be getting reinforcements sooner rather than later, before he told them about the defense towers and their conundrum.

"EDI, can you get the colony's defense systems online?"

"Errors in software are easily rectified, but it will take some time to bring the towers to full power. I recommend a defensive posture around the site. I will not be able to mask the increased generator output." EDI explained, telling them to basically get ready for a full-scale confrontation from the collector forces.

"Let's load up. When the collectors notice, we'll have a fight on out hands." Zaeed told them, checking his thermal clips and both of his weapons for the oncoming firefight that lies ahead of them.

With that said, everyone gathers around any form of suitable cover, their weapons ready and bodies tense as the first signs of trouble began to make its way to them.

And it would come in waves.

With the first wave down, everyone quickly grabs any thermal clips that were left from the last fight, knowing full well that they would surely need it for the next wave of attackers that would arrive at any second now.

That was when Shepard's radio came to life.

"Commander, Onyx here, were just outside the large set of doors that separates us from you. We'll be right with you in about a minute so keep your damn head down and try not get shot." Onyx told him, with Shepard smiling as he shook his head.

"Glad to have you here Onyx, we could definitely use the additional help."

"Roger that commander."

It was at this time that EDI had informed everyone that the GUARDIAN was now at 40% power, and it just so happened to coincides with the arrival of more husks, collector troops, and a harbinger. Also, it coincides with the arrival of Onyx and his squad, who wasted absolutely zero time in killing any hostile forces that were putting the others in harm's way.

Devin grabbed his lancer and revved it as he ran to harbinger, the thing already pissing him off by what it was saying to him from before being his motivation to renovate the thing's insides rather forcefully.

Harbinger had only just enough time to turn its head around before Devin stuck the chainsaw right in between its legs and started to forcefully pull upwards, coating him in dark, viscous fluid as the body fell in two halves before disintegrating entirely.

"**Kill this pawn, and millions will take its place.**" It said to him, before dissipating as Tyler, Jacob, and Grunt went to work with their biotics and brute strength to finish off a few of the collectors that were clustered together.

Tulma threw out a few warps and pulls on the husks that weren't dead yet, resulting in a biotic explosion that decimated the lightly armored and weak cannon fodder with ease. And she does have to admit, it felt _good_ to finally use her biotics this much. Relieving actually.

"Tower is at 60%, linking the systems to the Normandy's defense systems to accelerate the process. Estimated time of completing: two minutes."

"Fantastic! Just enough time to tear these fuckers a new asshole!" Tyler screamed, using his biotics to crush a husk and a drone as they both had came in to deal melee attacks.

Not the smartest idea, come to think of it.

With the last of them dead, a new enemy joins the battlefield, and judging from its size, it's going to be a bitch to handle.

The screaming crab thing begins floating in the air as it began its attack, sending two lances of pure energy out from its eyes and towards them all, melting the ground and metal that it came into contact with.

All in all, the message was pretty clear: stay as far away from it as you can possibly get.

"Geeze Louise, what the fuck is that thing?!" Devin screamed out in shock, nothing from his home even coming remotely close as looking like this thing and its capabilities.

Fuck that.

"Who cares! Stay away from it!"

With its powerful barriers reduced to nothing, the group tries to put as many rounds into it a possible, but stops as they see it beginning to glow before slamming into the ground, creating a shockwave that knocked whoever was close to it back and into crates, a wall, or even to the ground. And when it raised up again, its barriers looked as if had fully recharged and that they would need to take it down again in order to inflict actual damage on it.

With EDI firing at the vessel, it now lies to the ground team to take out the threat on the battlefield as soon as they possibly could, because now it was all or nothing.

"Garrus, as soon as its barriers are down, load an AP round into that rifle and we'll both shoot it together! Aim at the eyes! Everyone else will be keeping its attention while we do this okay?" Devin told him, causing the man to nod as he does exactly what Devin had told him to do.

And with both people armed and loaded, they each took aim at the monstrosity before sending both rounds straight into it, causing it to flip over itself as the two massive rounds bored their way deep inside of it a shattering the armored carapace where the shots had hit.

Everyone else took this as their chance to unload all of the ammo left in their current thermal clip to finally land a killing blow against the beast, watching as it screeched and cried out before being reduced to dust as everyone lowered their weapons and heads to get a breath of relief from having to deal with that thing.

Though one thing is for sure: they are most definitely going to be seeing them again, that much they were certain about.

* * *

With the collector ship now taking damage, it activates its thrusters and takes off from the colony, retreating from the system with most of the colonists on board the ship.

They were too late to save any of them.

At this point, Delan comes running up to them, telling them to not let them get away with everyone.

Shepard was reasonably upset.

"There's nothing we can do now. I'm sorry, but they're gone."

"Half the colony is in there! They took Egan and Sam and… and Lilith. Do something!" He demanded, staring straight up at the sky as he ran back and forth.

"I didn't want to end it this way. I did what I could."

Garrus had tried to console Shepard, telling him that he did more than most people could have with how little resources they currently had and little manpower.

They might've been a fierce fighting force, but they had nowhere near enough people to rescue everyone from being captured.

At hearing the man's name, Delan turns around and looks at the man, telling him that he knew that name and that he was some big Alliance hero.

It was at this time did Ashley show up.

"Commander Shepard, captain of the Normandy, the first human Spectre, and the savior of the Citadel. You're in the presence of a legend, Delan. And a ghost." Ashley tells him, motioning at the man in question, before he was told that he'd figured that she'd get left behind from all the good people that they lost.

"Screw this, I'm done with you Alliance types."

With that said, the man leaves them all, headed back into the colony as Shepard and Ashely walked up to each other.

Ashley was the first to speak.

"I thought you were dead, commander… we all did." She said, giving him a handshake as he returned it.

"It's been too long, Ash. How have you been?" He asks her, which in hindsight probably wasn't a good idea considering the fact that she got upset with him.

"That's all you have to say? You show up after two years and just act like nothing happened? I would've followed you anywhere, commander. Thinking you were gone… it was like losing a limb. Why didn't you try to contact me? Why didn't you tell me you were even alive?" She demands, her emotions were clearly getting ahead of her as she stared at him dead in the eyes with pain in hers.

Shepard had told her that he didn't have a choice in the matter, stating that he was in a coma while Cerberus was rebuilding him.

And that caught her off guard, causing her to step back as she stared at him in disbelief.

"You're… you're with Cerberus now? Garrus too? I can't believe that the reports were right…"

"Reports? You mean you already knew?" Garrus asked her, looking at her with a hint of confusion.

Ashley had then gone on to explain that Alliance intel had believed Cerberus to be the culprit of the missing colonies and that they got a tip that Horizon would be the next one to be attacked. After telling him that Anderson kept stonewalling her about it, there were rumors that he wasn't dead and worse that he was with Cerberus.

Shepard had put the pieces together immediately.

"Building defense towers was just a cover story: The Alliance sent you here to investigate me, didn't they?" He asked, already knowing the answer to his question before she opened her mouth to say it.

"I was sent here to investigate Cerberus; you were just a rumor. I wanted to believe you were alive, but I never expected anything like this. You've turned your back on everything we stood for!" She screamed, anger now encompassing her features as she feels betrayed.

"Ash, you know me. You know I'd only do this for the reason! You saw it for yourself: the collectors are targeting human colonies and they're working for the reapers!" He told her, trying to get her to see the truth in his statements for her to get on his side.

But she had rejected him.

"I… I want to believe you, Shepard. But I don't trust Cerberus. They could be using the threat of a reaper to manipulate you! What if they're behind it? What if they're working for the collectors?"

Garrus had enough of her senseless ramblings.

"Dammit Ashley, you're so focused on Cerberus that you're ignoring the real threat!"

"You're letting how you feel about their history get in the way of the facts." Shepard added onto it, making one last attempt to persuade her.

Ashley shook her head, telling him that maybe it was because they saved him and that he feels as if he owes them, telling him that maybe it's him who's not thinking straight. After telling him that he's changes, Ashley turns her back on him yet again, telling him that she knows where her loyalties lie and that she has to go and report back to the Citadel to see if they believe his story.

Shepard had to try just one more time.

"I can use someone like you on my crew, Ash. It'll be just like old times."

"No, it won't. I'll never work for Cerberus. Goodbye, Shepard… and be careful." She told him, before turning around leaving the man and his team on the colony.

At this point does Shepard close his eyes, scowling as he clenches his fist before radioing Joker telling him to get a couple of shuttles down here for pickup.

"I've had enough of this colony."

"Before we go commander, we have to pick Kasumi up at one of the shelters with survivors. She volunteered to stay behind and help them with whatever they needed." Onyx told him, causing the man to nod at him as everyone gathered their gear and waited for exfil.

It was going to be a long day for the Normandy crew, that much was obvious. And they all wanted to get back to the ship and relax a bit before headed off to their next mission.

* * *

**And that wraps it up for this chapter! The next one is going to be in Devin's pov with his squad, and because this wasn't in the base game, I can have a lot of creative freedom with the oncoming chapter, so that'll make it infinitely easier to write out. As such, with this in mind, I'll see you all next Monday and I hope that each of you have a great week!**

**PS: We have hit over 100k words! This officially makes us the second largest Gears/ME fic on this site! I aim to make THE longest fic; gotta dream big and shoot for the moon, because even if you miss it, you'll ruin some poor fucker's day in the future.**


	13. The Ghost Town

**Hello everyone, I'm back with a new chapter for you all to read and enjoy. I would've gotten this out yesterday as I promised, but I had to be there for my mother and while I enjoy writing and giving you all what you want, family does come first. The funeral went well, I got to see some family I haven't seen in a long time so that was nice, though I wish it were under better circumstances. Being a Paul-Bearer is somewhat of an odd experience: holding and carrying someone that you've known practically your entire life and knowing that it is going to be the last time that you ever see them for the rest of your life is a feeling that you can't really describe. If I had to put it into words, I just couldn't. It was numbing, but heart-breaking, sad but not. But my family and I are doing better now, and my mother very much appreciates the condolences that everyone has sent to us and wishes to thank you all and that she hopes that you all would have a blessed life. It truly did mean the world to her when I told her that complete strangers online gives us their condolences (and having to explain that I write fanfiction was a little awkward, but I digress) and it helped ease her pain a bit.**

**So, on my behalf, thank you to everyone who sent their condolences; I and my family appreciates it very much.**

**Review time:**

**captaindickscratcher: First of all, love the name, and second I agree with you on how the longshot compares to the ME weapons. But the lancer already has the recoil compensators and other attachments that makes it usable to the everyday soldier, as you'll see in this chapter. The longshot however, since it was made and finished last chapter, doesn't have anything added to it because of the fact that Jacob didn't get enough time to actually manufacture said attachments. They will have them in later chapters, I assure you. As for the lancer having a high-frequency blade, I wasn't planning on using that style of blade to begin with, but was planning on replacing it with a mono-molecular blade instead, considering that they'll both pretty much do the same thing anyways, and having an air-tight seal on the lancer's chainsaw was an interesting idea but let me explain why I didn't go with that. Since his lancer, and other equipment, are for the Onyx Guards, it'd make sense to have those weapon models be vastly superior than their standard, run-of-the-mill counterparts, I had envisioned that the lancer that Devin uses doesn't require a fuel source to be powered (evidence to support that it does is the smoke that comes from the lancer whenever it is revved) and instead uses gears and other machinery to operate the driving mechanism to counteract the need to operate in an atmosphere. As for the second omni-tool? Considering the point that one tool would be enough for anything to handle, having a second one would be a bit redundant, unless it's for duel-wielding omni-blades, but Devin does have a thermal imaging and nightvision optics built within his helmet (think of the dual-band scope from COD Black Ops 2). I hope that this explanation answers all of your questions sufficiently.**

**Archangel: Thank you for the compliments and here's the next chapter!**

**Blaze: Well, mainly because of EDI and the collectors jamming any signals. The man is skilled, and had he been an engineer class (in this story he's just a soldier with a little extra functions on his omni-tool) he would've gotten word out to Anderson that Horizon was under attack and needed help. Not only that, but having to send word to Alliance Command, and them having to assemble a response fleet or even a single ship, and then having that fleet or ship travel the relay network would've taken too long for them to intercept the collector ship in time, before it took off and escaped the system. And as for the longshot, I'm glad you enjoy its return.**

**Daedra: Thanks for the compliment, and as for why it wasn't in Shepard's POV much last chapter is because we always get to see the games and missions through his eyes, as such I tried to get the viewpoints in the other's to help expand their thoughts about the mission at hand and who they're going up against.**

**Main117: Yeah, I figured someone would've appreciated that small joke.**

**Stalker: It would be nice to see another fic with Marcus or Dom; years ago, when I first discovered this website, Marcus Effect was one of the first fics I read and I loved it. It's sad to see that it's collecting dust and nothing has happened to it for years now, but it's a reminder that any story has the potential to end up just like it. But not this one. As for your descriptions about the games, that made me laugh. And here's an unpopular opinion for you: I enjoyed Gears Judgment. Let the flaming begin, lol.**

**And to everyone who gave their condolences, thank you again; I very much appreciate it. Enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

**Chapter Thirteen: The Ghost Town**

After Shepard had dismissed everyone, Devin and Garrus had went to the armory to grab their newest weapon, before headed to the elevator and taking it down to the hangar bay. On the way down, Devin tried his best to tell Garrus everything he needed to know about the rifle: from how to position it comfortably, how to pull the breach back and load it, how to use the scope and the variable zoom function that it has, and etc.

With that out of the way, the two squads head for the shuttles and boards them, waiting as the bay doors open and the shuttles to leave the Normandy and head down to the surface of Horizon to stop the collectors from doing whatever it was that they wanted to be done.

Not on Devin's watch.

Taking a look at his squad, Devin stood up and gathered everyone's attention by clearing his throat.

"Alright everyone, as Shepard has informed us, I am going to be leading this squad for the duration of this mission. I will be leading the mission and today you will be following my orders and commands as if they were coming from the commander himself, and to show that I'm trusting you to carry out my commands, I'm giving you my name. My name is Devin Carmine. Moving on from that, our main objective for this mission is for us to locate and extract any and all survivors back to a safe house, or anything remotely similar. These are civilians that we will be protecting, so that means that they will have little to no weapons and or combat experience. Even if they do, they don't have any shield systems to stop their heads from painting the nearest surface. As such, it is up to us to keep them safe at all costs. Any questions?" Devin asks, finishing his small speech as he looks to see if anyone had a question that needed to be answered.

Seeing that Tyler had raised his hand, Devin pointed at him to asks his question.

"So, while getting the civvies back to safety is our main priority, are there any other objectives that we have or even priorities for that matter?" He asks, which brought up a good point to Devin.

He explained while they have to finish their priority objective, they did indeed have others as well: this included securing any collector tech that they could find and/or scan, remove any collector presence from the colony, and finally providing any relief to any survivors that may require it.

Nodding at having his question answered, Devin asked if anyone else had a question and if so ask it now before they land.

Grunt was the only one to raise his arm and open his mouth.

Devin beat him to the punch.

"Kill anything that's shooting at you with zero remorse. And kill as many of them as you damn well please."

Stopping at having his question being answered before he even asked it, Grunt lowers his arms and does his signature laugh, smiling at the human as he understood what he was going to ask.

With them now entering the atmosphere, Devin orders them all to ready their weapons and equipment before they make landfall, stating that a soldier who wasn't prepared was already dead before they even started. With that being said, he grabbed his lancer and made sure that the magazine was fully loaded before checking his side pouches to see if he has the armor-piercing ammo that Jacob had told him to bring just in case they run into something that needed its use.

With the shuttle slowing down and the group gaining their first look at the colony that was being besieged, they noticed a distinct lack of farm animals and even traffic evacuating from the colony.

This only meant one thing to Tyler.

"The colony already fell…" He mumbled, his eyes not leaving the window as he balls his hands into fists.

"What do you mean and how do you know if it fell or not?" Kasumi had asked him, easily picking up his emotions and tense body as the man stared down at the colony.

The man turned to look at her, his face conveying a grim reminder of what happened to him before.

"Mindoir… I'm from Mindoir."

Jacob whistled at that, gaining the attention of the man and everyone else in the shuttle.

"So what you're saying is that you're-"

"I'm one of the only colonists that weren't taken or had a chip and collar strapped to me. I held out for a week, scrounging supplies and food, hoping that someone would save us before everyone was either dead or taken. Well, I guess I got that wish; after being shot by that cock sucker that I killed a while back, I was left for dead in a house until a squad of Alliance marines found me. I had lost a bit of blood before then, but they patched me right up before sending me off somewhere to receive actual surgery instead of a patch job in the field. That's why I hate batarians. Let's go, the shuttle's landed."

With that being said, the doors open up and allows the six of them to leave and step on the grass, all of them looking at the ship that was looming in the distance with dark clouds surrounding it.

With his arm being brought up to his head, Devin contacts Shepard through his omni-tool to give him a report on their situation. But it seems as if the man beat him to the punch.

"Onyx, how are things on your end?" He asked, causing Devin to look around and take in his surroundings yet again, before answering the man's questions.

"Situation nominal Commander, just too fucking quiet on our end… and with how many people were supposedly living here, we should be seeing and hearing at least _some sign of life_ here." Devin told him, memories of numerous cities being abandoned and/or under siege by the locust playing through his mind.

Shouldering his rifle, Devin gave a signal to the others to move up and leave the area so that they could get further within the colony. He only hopes that it would be over within the next hour or so; he doesn't like the look of that ship and whatever it was that came out of it, especially the swarms flying in the air and whatever ground troops that came from it.

* * *

They had lost radio contact with the Normandy and Shepard about ten minutes ago, and with repeated attempts to try and reestablish connection with either of the two, Devin told the others that the collectors must've been jamming their comms and until they could find the source and remove it.

"Anyone else feeling uneasy about the lack of contact we've had since we've been here? I mean, I'm not complaining but we should have at least _seen something_." Jacob asked, looking around the exteriors of the buildings to see if there were any collector presence to be notified of.

The place was a ghost town: no colonist in sight, no foreign noises, no signs of battle, nothing.

Upon entering an open home (which they're all open), the group stumbles upon what appears to be food ready and served on a table, the vid screen on but the feed was scrambled likely due to the comm jammers that the collectors have set up.

Kneeling down and inspecting a shattered picture frame, Devin sees that it's of the people who lived here, and that it looks as if they left right in the middle of breakfast.

After relaying this information with the others, Kasumi nods her head and agrees with his statement, telling them that the people who lived here did leave in a hurry if they didn't even have the time to eat their food.

"Devin, we've got contacts incoming!" Tulma calls out, drawing her weapons and taking aim at whoever was coming.

This draws everyone's attention as the building they were in proceeds to take fire by numerous sources.

And this start their first encounter with the collectors.

With his weapon drawn, Devin takes aim and takes at the lone enemy who didn't get into cover and pulled the trigger on his lancer, watching as the rounds devastated the carapace of the insectoid creature and tore large chunks of its body out.

Having to dive into cover as he was immediately targeted, Devin looks over to see that Grunt was standing out of cover and firing his shotgun at the opposing forces, laughing as his shields were taking damage and that they were actually fighting back against him, instead of running away or hiding behind cover as everyone else did.

And that was things really got interesting for them.

One of the collectors threw their gun to the ground and started shaking violently, spasming as yellow streaks of light seems to course throughout its body as it raised into the air and finished its transformation. Upon lowering back down, it grabbed its rifle and looked up at the group who was now staring in a mixture of shock and morbid fascination.

Then it spoke.

"**We are the harbinger of your destruction. Prepare for our coming.**" It told them, raising its arm and sending out a biotic warp that seemed to be tainted with whatever is coursing through the possessed collector's body.

Tyler threw up a barrier just before impact, gritting his teeth as it collided with it and seemed to fracture it, before quickly destabilizing it entirely which caused him to drop the barrier.

"You okay, Whips?" Kasumi asked him, noticing that the man is holding his head with one of his hands as he hisses in pain.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Fuck me, whatever that warp was, it fucking hurt when it hit that barrier: normal warps don't leave a lingering field of destruction, but that damn thing did." He answered her, shaking his head as he grabbed his assault rifle to shoot back at the thing that had caused him harm.

It had sprung up some kind of barrier in front of it, easily absorbing whatever rounds that were going to hit and stopping them entirely, that was when Grunt decided to go out into the open.

"I'll be back; going to get the others off of you all so that you can deal with their leader." He tells Devin, the man nodding at his plan as he grabbed his longshot in preparation to bring this _Harbinger_ down for good.

"I AM KROGAN!"

With Grunt now screaming that as he charges the nearest collector, Kasumi activates her omni-tool and throws out a flashbang, causing whoever was looking at it to be temporarily blinded… and this includes people from both sides of the fight.

"Damn!" Jacob cursed, covering his eyes as he begins rubbing them to get the affects out of his vision, but to little effect.

"Sorry!" She calls out, cloaking to get a surprise hit on one of the collectors who was stumbling around and using her omni-tool to produce a pulse that sent her target flying.

Deciding to fall back and avoid the fire that was now being sent her way, Kasumi flips over the barrier with a similar style as a professional gymnast, landing on the ground before regrouping with the others as they stared at her the entire time.

Noticing that she's being stared at, Kasumi asks them why they're doing that, only to be met with silence as Tyler coughs into his hand before answering.

"Uh… well not only was that a risky move you pulled there, but that suit of yours is form fitting and gives you the appearance of being flexible, and when you uh… vaulted over the railing, we could see-"

He is interrupted when Devin slapped him the back of the head, shaking his head at the man as he looked at him, "It's rude to be talking about a lady's body in that way, Tyler."

"BUT IT'S WHAT ALL OF US WERE THINKING!"

Tulma shook her head at the display, looking at Kasumi as she was laughing at what happened.

"My, my, what a gentleman. I don't mind Devin; boys will be boys!" She called out, looking at Tulma before winking.

Tulma merely sighed in response.

But during this time, it seems as if Harbinger had finally had enough of their antics and actions to provide direct intervention.

Flying over the cover that everyone was using, Harbinger had sent out a shockwave that sent both Jacob and Kasumi flying back. Tyler tried to slam his whips into the possessed collector, only for them to hit a barrier that it had brought up from seemingly nowhere.

Tyler had one thing to say about that.

"Now that ain't fair." He said, more to himself than the collector who just then picked him up by the throat and tossed him into the krogan who was now charging his way back to the others, knocking both of them down.

This just left Tulma and Devin.

"**Turian, you have no place on this planet; yet, you are welcome in the graves in which will be left here.**" It told her, hands glowing in tainted biotic energy as it threw an attack at Devin which in turn caused the man to get knocked off of the elevated platform that they were using.

Now he had to get back up there.

"Eat a _kryshka_ you bastard." She snarls, her biotics flaring and coalescing around her nightshade blades, further increasing their lethality.

Charging the collector, Tulma ducks beneath the attack that it had sent her way, rolling along the ground before sending her blades as far as she could get it before throwing a point-blank warp at the thing's chest. At this, the collector backhanded her away, watching as she fell to the ground before stomping on her chest and looking down on her.

"**Resistance is futile: the cycle of harvest will continue, humanity will play their role for us, and the galaxy will burn as all advanced life will fall before us. Shepard will not stop us, you will not stop us, and there is nothing you can do to slow us down. We. Are. Inevitable.**" It said to her, now putting force onto the foot that is holding her down, causing the woman to let out a gasp of pain as her scars were flaring up.

She needed this thing off of her NOW.

"D- DEVIN!" She calls out, watching as Harbinger had another biotic attack ready to end her life at a moment's notice.

Until a large and black armored fist completely rips through its chest, sending dark and viscous fluid all over Tulma as Harbinger slowly looks down to see what had caused his attack to fail. Upon turning his head around, he comes face to face with this supposed '_Devin_', his helmet a shade of onyx with two lenses where the eyes are surely held. And judging from the body signs that the human was displaying, he was not happy.

"**So you're the interloper…**" Is all that it could say, before Devin grabbed the side of its head and violently tore his arm out from its chest to the side, then grabbed its shoulder and head and used all of his strength to tear its head off completely.

Throwing the now headless collector to the ground, they both watch as it fades away with Harbinger telling them that they will meet again.

Shaking his head at the dead collector, Devin offers his hand to Tulma to help pick her up from the ground, to which she graciously accepts it, thanking the man yet again for saving her life.

With everyone back on their feet, they all grab their discarded gear before headed off further into the colony.

"Holy shit, remind me not to get into a fist fight with you." Tyler told Devin, to which the man laughed in response, stating that he'd never fight any of them because of them being brothers-in-arms.

Now it was time for them to find any survivors.

* * *

"Hey, I think we've got something over here!" Jacob called out, waving the group over to him as he points at a recently sealed bulkhead.

Kasumi, upon getting to him and activating her omni-tool, scanned the controls that were located on the outside wall before nodding her head.

"Oh yeah, there's definitely people in there; the logs show that there were maybe a hundred people in here currently and that they all fled here whenever the collector ship showed up. Sad to say, but they're the lucky ones; not having to stay frozen in place outside waiting for the collectors to just pick you up." She explains while shuddering at the thought of what would happen to those that were caught, scrolling through the data in her omni-tool as she types a few commands into it, which shortly after opens the bulkhead.

At this, more than a few colonists screamed as the doors opened and left them vulnerable to whoever was on the other side. However, upon noticing that nothing was happening, they calm down as they see that whoever opened the doors weren't the alien invaders that were here to take them and instead were humans and a couple of non-humans as well. This calmed everyone down as they waited with bated breath for what they had to say.

Quickly taking point, Devin steps up to the front of the group, holstering his weapon and holding up his hands in a placating gesture to ease the crowd of any of their worries.

"It's okay everyone, it's okay! You're safe now, my team and I are here to help you all. Now, there's a collector presence here on your colony and my team and my commander's team are doing everything in our power to push them off this planet. I know you're all scared, but you have to remain calm and don't panic whatsoever; the collectors who were trying to get in here are dead now, but that doesn't mean that it's safe to go out there. With that being said; we're here to ensure your safety and to retrieve anyone out there who couldn't get into the shelter, and even link up with the other shelters in the area."

Jacob had to give the guy credit; he knew how to speak with people and to get them to calm down, somewhat like Shepard but more to the point.

That's when one of the colonists, possibly the appointed leader of them, came up to the group as he looked at all of them with apparent worry and fear in his eyes.

"Thank you, thank you so much! We- we didn't know what to do when that ship came down and those bugs started stinging people, freezing them in place with this weird stasis field. Then those- those _things_, those collectors came and… I can't believe they actually exist…" The man says, grabbing his head with one arm and shaking it as he recounts the events of what happened today to him and everyone else.

"Everything is going to be okay," Devin told him, looking back at the others and motioning his head to the colonists for them to help them, "we're here to help you all. With that being said; the colony still isn't safe for you and everyone else, so just sit tight and wait for the all clear."

With that being said, Devin tries one more time to contact Shepard but to no avail; it seems as if the collectors were still jamming the comms and that they needed to find a way to either bypass it, or destroy it outright. And since he didn't know what to look for, he could only hope that Shepard's team, or EDI, could find a way around it.

His thoughts were interrupted when Kasumi came up to him and waved her hand in front of his face, catching his attention as he shook his head and looked at her with an eyebrow raised.

"Yes?"

"The colonists here basically have all of the provisions and other necessities with them in this bunker, but they don't have anyone with much, or even any, combat experience here to protect them." She tells him, motioning for Devin to look at the colonists and realizing that none of them had the look of a veteran worn in on their faces.

Upon making the assumption of their militia, Devin asks if she thinks that anyone who did have any form of military, or even mercenary, training was in the militia, to which she nods her head. She then explained that most of, if not all of the militia forces on the colony were wiped out by the collectors within the small amount of time that they've been here.

Sighing at having yet another issue to deal with, Devin asks her about what they should do about the situation, if there was anything they could do.

"Well," she started, looking at the colonists with a small frown, "one of us could stay here and keep them protected. Not only that, but we could have whoever does stay here go out and gather anything that the colonists would need." She explains, crossing her arms as she looked at the man.

Devin only nodded at what she had told him, with the situation now making itself known to them meant that he would need someone to stay back and guard them, if worst came to worst, but his only problem was figuring out _who_ should stay behind: Grunt wasn't the type to babysit someone, Jacob might've done the guarding job well enough, but he wasn't good enough to go out and gather supplies, Tyler was the same way, Tulma was a maybe, Devin had to lead the team, and all that remained was Kasumi.

She, considering her resume and accomplishments, would probably be the best choice for this job.

"Will you do it?" Devin asked her, watching as a smile slowly formed on her lips as she nodded.

"I thought you'd never ask; I'll keep them safe for you, no worries."

Devin only nodded in response.

* * *

"Okay everyone, listen up; Kasumi volunteered to stay behind to help those colonists with whatever they may need, as such that means that we're now one person short on this mission and we need to compensate for that. Our objective still stands: locate any colonists and get them to safety, afterwards we'll try to rendezvous with Shepard at this weapons encampment to aid him in getting these bastards off of this planet! Any questions?"

Tulma raised her hand, asking him what they should do if another Harbinger showed up and how they should get rid of it.

"Focus your attention on that fucker and fire as many rounds as you can into him, as for any other collector forces that may show up, we'll handle them accordingly; something tells me that they have a lot more than these exploding husks, drones, and this Harbinger guy waiting for us. Move out people, we've got a colony to save."

With that said, the five of them heads through the large set of doors that separated them from the outer edges of the colony to the middle of it, introducing them to a more urban style of environment with many open buildings, open rooftops, walls, walkways, and many more architectural environments suited for this setting. They could use this to their environment to their advantage.

However-

"Ambush!"

-the collectors could also use it to their advantage as well.

With everyone being forced to take cover, they had no way of knowing just how many collectors were actually firing at them, or how many of the husks were advancing towards them.

There was at least one that they did know of, considering the fact that one of them dived over cover and landed on top of Grunt and tried to claw its way through his face.

Grunt reacted very reasonably.

"Get off me and STAY DOWN!" He screams, grabbing the thing off of him and throws it to the ground, where he then proceeded to stomp its skull in and effectively killing it immediately.

That's when Devin realized something.

"They don't explode if their heads are crushed…" **(Kinda weird that it works like this, but that is what happens in ME3 multiplayer, so I guess I'd consider it canon)**

Upon realizing this, Devin had told everyone about the revelation that he encountered, trusting his gut with the information that he believed to have uncovered. With this in mind, it made dealing with the husks much easier in close-quarters than before, but only if you were able to stomp or crush their heads.

Now it was time to deal with the rest of them.

Having Jacob and Tulma stay back to provide covering fire, Devin takes Grunt and Tyler with him to push forward by having them dive and roll from cover to cover to avoid any shots that were targeting them. It was a nice thought of having the three of them get close enough to deal with the collector drones on the bridge. _Was_ being the operative word: it seemed as if Harbinger decided to show up yet again and this time he brought a friend for Devin and the others to enjoy.

"What the fuck is that thing?" Tyler asked, watching as a large, blue and grotesque _creature_ lumbered its way over a crate as Harbinger flew into the air and pointed at them.

"It's like a damned Sire from the New Hope Research Facility, only larger, with a built-in gun, blue, and uglier!" Devin responded, memories of that god-forsaken facility resurfacing from the depths of his memories. **(Bonus points if you remember these things)**

"The what and where?"

"DOESN'T MATTER, JUST KILL THE DAMN THING!"

"**You will not succeed in your endeavors; the cycle will continue, and none of you will live to see it end. We are the Harbinger of your-**"

Harbinger couldn't finish his sentence, due to Devin getting tired of what he was saying and using his longshot to reduce his head into a fine mist.

Tyler merely looked at him before shrugging his shoulders, laughing to himself as he told him about that being one way to shut him up.

Reloading his longshot with an armor-piercing round, Devin orders both Tyler and Grunt to push forward to take care of any distractions that could mess up his next couple of shots, to which Tyler gave him a thumbs up and Grunt laughing as he brought his shotgun to bear.

"You ready for this, toad-face?"

"Let's kick some ass."

And with that being said, Tyler holsters his rifle and activates his whips, using the lash ability to grab a collector and jerk it towards them, causing Grunt to use the butt end of his shotgun to crush the thing's head in with a sickening squelch, making both of them laugh in the process.

All Devin could do was shake his head at the display, muttering about how they were both basically kids at an arcade. Two very violent, brutal, and sadistic kids.

Tulma and Jacob had moved up when the chance to do so came to them, following Devin's lead about how to go from cover to cover with the most efficiency and least probability about getting shot, before coming to a stop beside the man as he took aim with his sniper at the large thing that was now firing shockwaves at them.

'_Breathe in, hold your breath, slowly breathe out and pull the trigger to maximize accuracy.'_ Was all that was going through Devin's mind, his drill sergeant's words echoing through his mind as he fired the round at the beast, watching as the bulbous tissue that was located on its top was blown and shredded to bits.

The scream that the thing emitted was music to his ears.

What _wasn't_ music to his ears, however, was the fact that the thing was now entirely focused on him and it appeared that it was now firing twice as fast.

Devin had only one thing to say.

"Fuck me."

Now having to dive out of cover due to that thing now solely focused on him, Devin grabbed his lancer and began firing at the creature as he made his way to the next building, trying to find a place where he could safely shoot it without it hitting him and knocking his ass to the ground.

"Everyone, focus fire on the freak!" Devin ordered them, reloading his lancer as the others followed his orders without a moment of hesitation.

With it now distracted, Devin could now focus on firing his longshot just one more time at it, hoping that two shots were enough to bring it down for good.

Although, he seemed to be forgetting one important thing.

Harbinger.

Upon remembering it, Devin turned to face the thing with his lancer drawn and ready to kill it, but it seems as if the thing beat him to the punch; lifting Devin into the air and constricting him with its biotics, Harbinger pulls the man out of his cover and sends his guns to the ground below, effectively removing any chance for the man to fight back.

"**You are not human, your physiology, chemistry, and biological makeup it vastly different. There are no surgical markers which would show us that you are the product of an experiment. What are you and where did you come from?**" It asked him, bringing him closer to it so that it could look the man over.

"Fuck you and eat a dick." Devin coldly responded, snarling at the possessed collector but remaining still as he couldn't force himself to move any more than struggling against the biotics that were holding him still.

"**We do not need you alive to get what we want. Your memories will suffice.**" It said, beginning to crush him from within his armor as Devin let out a choked gasp of pain from what was happening to his insides.

And when it would seem that all was over for him, Devin looked down at the ground and seen that both Jacob and Tyler both had his weapon, the lancer for Jacob and the longshot for Tyler, and fired at the collector with everything that was left inside of the magazines, tearing Harbinger limb from limb as Devin fell twenty feet to the ground.

With him struggling to get his breath, Devin could only stay there on his hands and knees as Tulma took his helmet off so that he could breath the fresh air without his helmet restricting anything.

"Are you alright?! Devin, speak to me now, tell me something!" She said hurriedly, lifting his head up and seeing blood coming from his nose, mouth, and ears as his eyes were bloodshot.

Nodding yes to her questions, Devin stayed silent as his breathing became more controlled and less erratic as waved them off.

"I- I'm fine… I'm fine. Fuck," he said, wiping the blood from his face as Jacob applied some medi-gel to him to help ease the pain greatly, "can't believe that I let that asshole get the drop on me. Where's the big guy at?"

Upon the question being asked, Grunt merely lifts up the gun barrel that was coming out of the thing, laughing the entire time.

Nodding at the sight, Devin could tell that they did indeed finish the thing off like he had ordered them to, before accepting the hands that both Jacob and Tyler had offered to him and taking the helmet from Tulma as she looked at him with worry in her eyes.

Patting her shoulder to tell her that he's all right, Devin looks at Jacob and Tyler before saying, "Thanks guys, my ass would've been six feet under pushing daisies if it weren't for you. And Jacob, how'd the rifle handle for you?" Devin asked him, remembering when he told the man that he could shoot it if he got the chance.

"Those recoil stabilizers, the heavy barrel, and whatever else is in it made the rifle feel as if it had very little recoil, despite the ammo that it fires. All in all, it's a damn fine rifle and whoever made it should be proud of themselves."

Nodding at the man's response, Devin holstered his weapons and moved up to the front of the group, with Grunt laughing at how he knew that he wouldn't stay down for long.

Now all that remains was them getting to the last bunker and rendezvousing with Shepard, then getting the hell off of this planet; Devin was definitely going to be seeing Chakwas before taking a shower and grabbing something to eat. With how today went for them, he was sure that they were probably thinking the same way.

* * *

Shepard had been quiet on the ride back to the Normandy, evidently the argument that he and that woman, Ashley if he recalled, had hurt the man more than he let on. With his weapons stored, his armor off, and him in a bed, Devin could only wait as Chakwas scanned him over and over again for a few minutes, before she injected him with some more medi-gel and extra-strength painkillers.

"Whatever happened to you down there really did a number on your organs: all of them appears to have bruising on all sides from whatever that collector, that Harbinger, did to you. With the extent of your injuries, I'm surprised you're still standing, let alone conscious. Even with your… _abilities_, you need to be careful to not overdue anything, even walking, that could potentially stretch your organs. Your eyes and ears are fine, the blood coming from them were from ruptured blood vessels that have been healed from the application of medi-gel that you've received while on the field. However, the migraine that you're no doubt experiencing should go away with the next two hours. But you are to not go on any ground mission for the next five to seven days, doctor's orders." Chakwas explained, typing and scrolling through her omni-tool as she looks over Devin to see if there was anything that she missed.

Satisfied that she didn't miss anything, she deactivates her omni-tool and goes back to her desk to write a report to Shepard about his condition, no doubt within Devin's mind that she is stressing to the man about him not being allowed to go on another mission for the duration of the week.

"Of course, Doctor, thank you for giving me another checkup, I do appreciate it." Devin tells her, leaning back into the bed and closing his eyes as the door to the infirmary opens up.

"Anytime Carmine. Hello Commander," Chakwas greeted, turning to look at the new visitor in the room as the man walked up to her.

"Give it to me straight Chakwas; is he going to make it?" Shepard asks her, trying desperately to keep a straight face as the woman looked at him with a raised eyebrow and a roll of her eyes.

"He isn't dead Commander; he's just not allowed to go on any mission for at most a week."

"So… he's dead?" Shepard responded, now failing to keep a grin off of his face as Chakwas looked at him with a small smile.

"Eat a dick, Shepard." Devin said to him, his eyes still closed as he hears the man laugh.

With Shepard standing beside the man, he couldn't help but take a look at the number of scars that adorned his arms, many of them looked old and some were new. Some looked as if they were made from guns and others looked as if they were made with knives or claws. Shepard considered himself lucky when it came down to the fact that his only scars were from Cerberus fixing him up and a few others from his time in the Alliance.

None of them came close to looking as if someone took a jagged rock and started tearing into him.

"Something on your mind?" Devin asked the man, seeing him looking down at his arms, no doubt the scars that littered them from the attacks that the UIR and the locust had hit him with.

"Yeah, I heard that you were injured far more than you let on. You doing okay?" Shepard asked him, looking at him as his face scrunched up a bit.

"I'm fine Commander, besides you can call me either Devin or Carmine; you've earned that right. Anyways, I'm doing good, if I wasn't then I'm sure that Chakwas here wouldn't let anyone see me."

Nodding at what he said, Shepard pats the man on his shoulder and tells him to get better soon, stating that he doesn't one of his two heavy hitters going down any longer than what was absolutely necessary.

"Take care Commander, I'll be here suffering in silence as the overlord forces me to do her dark bidding."

"I can always add an extra day onto your recovery time, Carmine." Chakwas warned, causing both men to laugh.

"Hey, sometime when we have any down time and aren't needing to be anywhere urgently, tell me a bit about where those scars came from; because some of them don't look like they were made from an explosion, knife, or even a gunshot."

"Sure thing. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to sleep."

With that being said, Devin closes his eyes yet again and actually falls asleep, comfortable enough to finally let all of the day's stresses out of him and getting some more rest as the doctor had ordered.

* * *

Shepard had only one more person to go to, to find out more about their resident super human: Tulma.

Upon reaching where she was at, Shepard cleared his throat so that he could get her attention, causing the turian to turn and look at him and drop whatever it was that she was doing.

"Commander, is there something you need?" She asks him, wondering why he came to her in the first place.

"Yeah, it's about Devin. I was wondering something about the man, and you and Garrus are the only ones here who knows him on a personal level. With that said; what's wrong with him? He's acting like he's hiding something."

At hearing the question, Tulma sighs and motions for the man to take a seat to which he does, and begins telling the man about Devin, but not too much to reveal his secrets.

"Devin was in the military, that much is obvious, and he doesn't like speaking about it much. I know a little bit about him, but not a whole lot; he signed up when he was seventeen to fight against the enemy, I believe that he was talking about the batarians considering the Blitz and all that. He is the second oldest amongst his four brothers, all of whom he misses very much. He's seen a lot of horrors Commander: children being murdered, innocents getting treated as nothing more than objects, soldiers and others being tortured to death, and animals mauling many more. I'm sure he himself was mauled a few times as well."

Shepard processed what Tulma had just told him, confirming that some of those scars were from animals and not any weapons, knife or gun wise.

Staying silent so that he can learn some more, he motions for her to continue in favor of hearing what else she has to say about the man.

"Well, he retired from the military maybe a year ago, then he came to Omega for some reason, I don't know why, and stayed there for bit. Soon after, Garrus and I recruited him into our vigilante group. From there, we got to know him bit by bit. I'd like to think that Garrus and I has his full trust, and I know for a fact that we both trust him with our lives." She tells him, finishing her explanation about Devin as she watches Shepard nod at what he's been told.

"So he has three brothers?"

"_Had_ Commander… had." She tells him, seeing Shepard's face contort in confusion for a split second before realization settled in immediately after.

"Right… _had_. You know, not many people know that I have a younger sister, only Garrus does and he's met her once already." Shepard tells her, watching as Tulma tilts her head at the information.

"Mhmm, her name is Jane. Last I checked, she was working as C-Sec somewhere around the Presidium. I talked to her for a little bit when we were at the Citadel, asked how mom was doing and apologized for not being able to talk to them for the past two years. Anyways, thanks for telling me a bit about Carmine, now I know why he keeps some stuff about himself hidden. I should go, have a good day Tulma." He tells her, seeing her wave goodbye to him as he leaves the crew quarters.

Now he has an idea about how Devin thinks and acts, but the footage from the ground team and what Harbinger had said to him made him wonder.

What did he mean by calling him an interloper?

* * *

**And that wraps up this chapter, I hope you all enjoyed it. With the funeral that happened Tuesday, and me not getting this chapter out sooner, next chapter will be out the following Monday. I hope that you all understand and I'm sorry if this is an inconvenience. Next chapter is happening on Illium, and along side it, there's going to be a few loyalty missions as well. What chapters those will be on remains to be seen.**

**Not only that, but Shepard having a sibling has always appealed to me (I blame having to grow up with three older brothers for that), and I hope her introduction is handled well. Who know, maybe in the future, we'll get to see her in a chapter. But, for the time being, that remains to be seen.**

**Have a good week, and I'll see you all next chapter.**


	14. Illium Towers

Hello everyone, got some news, mainly bad, my laptop is on the fritz right now and crashed. Got it working again but I will need to get it fixed properly which may take a little bit, at most a month, and all data relating to both chapter 14 and 15 was erased, as such I was a little more than upset at that. I spent all day yesterday typing out chapter 14 again, got it finished and am now posting this chapter from my phone, hence any grammatical errors that you may encounter. I don't trust my laptop at the moment, so this is the lesser of two evils. If I'm not able to post next chapter, instead I'll post the first chapter of my other story to make up for it. I hope this is fine with you all.

Review Time:

Blaze: Spoke too soon my friend, but as for the possessed collector; I view this enemy as a glass cannon type of entity, able to dish out a lot of punishment but is weak considering its insectoid biology. And protheans are an incredibly powerful species of biotics, so it'd make sense if the reapers would've tried to preserve that while they were making them into what they are today. And Jane will make an appearance in a later chapter, I assure you. Thanks for the review!

Captaindickscratcher: Nah man you're not blushing, it's just hot in here. As with your ideas about the Omni tools being linked to other stuff within the armor, weapons, and other equipment, I think that's actually good idea, I hadn't thought of that. And they could also serve as backups in case anything happens to you or it. As such I hope you don't mind if I use that idea for this new character that's coming in having to Omni tools doing something similar do what you had said. And thanks for the review!

Ascended: I knew someone would appreciate that, thanks for the review!

* * *

**Chapter Fourteen: Illium Towers**

Shepard couldn't believe what he had just heard: firstly, all docking fees had been waived for them, but most importantly Liara was the one who did it and wanted to see him.

Shaking his head to get himself out of his stupor, he looks back at the asari, Careena, with his full attention.

"You said Liara was here? Where is she, what is she doing?" He asks the woman, wanting to know where his friend is and how she's doing.

Careena smoothly tells the man that she is one of Nos Astra's most respected information broker and since Nos Astra is based upon trade, either goods or services, information is a very valuable currency and Liara has handled it well.

"As I said, you'll find her near the trading floor; she was looking forward to seeing you." She explains, gesturing to the man to follow the corridor behind her and continue on from there.

Shepard was relieved to hear that, after spending two years dead, he was desperately wanting to find his old crew and catch up with them.

But things haven't gone as well as planned.

Tali was on an important mission after finding Veetor, so she couldn't go with him. Ashley turned her back on him just a few days ago. He hasn't heard or seen anything from Wrex, but he's sure that the man would have done something if Shepard showed up to Tuchanka. Jenkins was a sergeant in the Alliance, and Shepard hasn't heard much else from the kid. Kaiden is dead, so that's out of the picture.

The only person he reconnected with was Garrus and that made Shepard happy. Only if the others were here…

"What can you tell me about Nos Astra?" Shepard asks the woman, quickly getting his thoughts back on track and ready for the mission.

"It's an exciting city: here, there are lots of new cultures and goods are here because of our proximity to the Terminus Systems. At the same time, Illium is still an asari world: you should be as safe here as you would be on the Citadel. For your own safety, however, I recommend against signing anything." She quickly warns the man, looking over the railing and out into the cityscape on the horizon.

Shepard had to ask about that one, and he did. Asking about why he shouldn't sign anything, the woman then explain that Illium is a free-contract world and that contract requirements are more relaxed there than on any other planet, as such it's a small price for them to pay to keep an edge against their competition from the Terminus.

That made a remark come from Garrus, stating that the planet sounds like a bureaucratic nightmare and Shepard had to agree with the man on that.

With her explaining everything about the port-city, Shepard thanks the woman for her time and for her explaining everything to him, to which the asari nods her head and smiles at him, before wishing him a good day and leaving.

With that out of the way, Shepard, Garrus and Kasumi made their way through the set of doors that was at the end of the corridor, coming through them, the three of them enters an overlook area granting them a better view of the city than before.

And Shepard had to admit, the view was a nice one.

Garrus on the other hand…

"We were always told that Illium is one of the safest places in the galaxy… until you fell off the grid. Sign the wrong contract, join up with the wrong company, or walk down the wrong alley, and it's as dangerous as anywhere else. Don't let this place fool you Shepard: it's no safer here than Omega."

Garrus didn't like this place at all.

Kasumi more or less agreed with the man on his description of the place, telling the two of them that she's done enough jobs and seen enough things to confirm Garrus' description.

Shepard could only shrug at their responses.

"Still a nice view."

Moving on from the railing, the trio is stopped by an asari calling out to them, or more specifically Shepard, waving at them to get their attention.

"You're Commander Shepard? I saw your… I guess you would say aura. I'd recognize you anywhere. I was… asked to give you a message, if I saw you, it's from a friend that you made on Noveria." Her saying that made Shepard stop and think for a moment, trying to sift through his memories and find out who this supposed friend could be, but failing to come up with anything.

"I met a lot people on Noveria. Could you be a little more specific?" He asks her, his mind going back to Li, the turian, that woman who was investigating Anoleis, the other turian who was down in the cocktail lounge while his office was getting raided, and a few others.

The asari only made a cryptic response to his question, before her entire visage changed completely.

"We hide. We burrow. We build. But we know you seek those that who soured the songs of our mothers. When the time comes, our voice will join yours, and our crescendo will burn the darkness clean. Thank you, Shepard, the rachni will sing again, because of you."

That response was a sucker punch straight to the mouth for both Garrus and Shepard, but the two of them pulled themselves out of their shock at hearing from the queen again and so soon.

"I'm glad to hear that you're rebuilding. Are you somewhere close by?" Shepard asks the seemingly possessed woman, but was met with the voice from the asari as she explained to them that the queen was somewhere safe and that message was just one of the many memories that she carries from her.

Explaining that she encountered the queen on an uncharted world, she tells them that she had saved her life and had given her a purpose. Stating that the rachni are an amazing species, she tells the man that the galaxy at large owes him a debt for giving them a second chance, even if they don't realize it.

With that out of the way, the woman leaves them behind, doing whatever she was doing before and giving the three of them a farewell.

All in all, it felt good to Shepard about hearing from the rachni, they really deserved a second chance and he's glad that he was the one to do it. Anyone else would've destroyed the queen and wouldn't look back.

Now it was time to see Liara, after talking to Parasini, that is.

* * *

"Have you faced an asari commando unit before? Few humans have. I'll make it simple: either you pay me, or I flay you alive. With my mind." Liara tells the man on vid-call, making Shepard raise an eyebrow at that threat.

The first sentence was awfully familiar to what Benezia had said to him back on Noveria, right before sending a squad of asari commandos after him.

Fun times.

Upon turning around, Liara gasps as she sees Shepard and Garrus standing there looking at her with an eyebrow/eyeridge raised, before telling her assistant to hold all of her calls.

"Shepard…" She breathlessly says, bringing the man into a hug as he reciprocated the move in kind.

"My sources said that you were alive, but I never believed… it's… it's good to see you again."

"You have sources now?"

"A few, sources, contacts, even a little hired muscle. I've been working as an information broker. It's paid the bills since you… well, for the past two years. And now you're back, gunning for the collectors with Cerberus." She tells him, sitting down as she looks at him with a look that Shepard couldn't place.

She's changed over the past two years, that much was certain. How much, he doesn't know.

"If you know all of that, then you would surely know that I could use your help."

'_Please say yes, please say yes, please say-'_

"I… can't Shepard, I'm sorry. I have commitments here. Things that I need to take care of before leaving."

He should've seen that one coming, that much was obvious, but it still hurts the man regardless.

Maybe…

"What kind of thing do you need to take care of? Are you in trouble?" He asks her, ready to help his old friend at a moment's notice.

Liara placated his worries when she told him that she wasn't in danger, but it had been a long two years without him to keep everyone together. Stating that she had things to do while he was gone, and debt to repay. However, she did tell him that he could help her with hacking some nodes that she can point out for him.

Shepard had agreed with her request, much to her relief, and had asked him if there was anything else that she could help him with.

"There's an asari named Samara here on Illium, do you happen to know where I could find her? She's something called a justicar, whatever that is." Shepard tells her, face scrunching up in confusion about the odd name.

"Samara… yes. She arrived here recently and registered with Tracking Officer Dara. You find Dara, and maybe Samara, at the Tracking hub. And a justicar is an ancient sect of asari warriors who almost has the same power and authority as a spectre. Almost all of them are in their matron stages of life, meaning that their biotics are more powerful than any other asari's, including commandos."

That was a little more than what he thought he was going to get, but it sure made his job easier to find the woman.

Now it was time to find the other guy.

"Thane Krios is the next person I'm looking for. He's also supposed to be here on Illium. Matter of fact, I've got several things to do here before I leave, so…" Shepard trails off, now thinking about the request Miranda made for him, and him telling everyone that they can go out and buy whatever they wanted, but they only had an hour to do it.

Liara just smiles at the man before shaking her head, rolling her eyes at the man before telling him that he arrived a few days ago and that he may be targeting a corporate executive by the name of Nassana Dantius. She then told him that he contacted a woman named Seryna and that she can be found at the cargo transfer levels and that she can tell him where Thane is.

Shepard had to do a double take at that, asking her if that was all from the top of her head.

"I'm a very good information broker Shepard, the world of intrigue isn't that different than a dig site… except that the dead bodies still smell."

"Right… Thanks for the help. I should go and get those two before they end up dead, in prison, or wherever else." He tells her, standing up and exiting the door behind him with Garrus and Kasumi in tow.

She's changed, that much he was certain about.

* * *

Finding Seryna was easier than Shepard had thought; it literally took him less than a minute to find the woman sitting at her desk as she typed away monotonously at her terminal, which Shepard decided to attribute this feat of finding the woman as quickly as he did to be whatever deity there was in the universe that currently had control of the grand scheme of things.

"Can I help you?"

Hearing the question being directed at them had pulled Shepard from his thoughts, realizing that he was standing still for an unspecified amount of time as he looked at the woman.

"Sorry about that, I tend to space out every now and then. Are you Seryna, by any chance?" He asks the woman, making sure that this is indeed the woman that he is looking for.

"Who wants to know?" She responds, going back to working on her terminal as she awaits the man's answer.

"My name's Shepard, Liara T'Soni said that you might have information on a drell by the name of Thane Krios."

Hearing the name, Seryna stood up and told her coworker, Tana, to cover for her as she leads the trio away from her work area, gesturing for them to follow her as she looks back at them.

"Yeah, I know who Thane Krios is. I might have passed him some information, but I didn't hire the man. Is there anything you want to know about him or what he's doing?"

"Perhaps you can tell me how I could find him, or even help me."

Seryna had scoffed at that, telling him that she can tell him where's he's at but that doesn't mean that they would be able to stop him. Continuing on from that, she tells them that when he contacted her for information on Nassana, she did a checkup on him, stating that he never gives up on a job, and practically has a perfect record for all of his jobs.

That was interesting to hear: the man was highly skilled in what he does, and since Seryna ran security for Nassana, Thane had used her for information on how to get to the woman faster and to finish the job earlier.

At least he used all of his assets to their fullest potential, that much made Shepard impressed.

Now it was his turn to learn about the security that is in the towers.

"If you worked there, then you must have an idea on what opposition we'll face, and you might even know a shortcut or two that'll help us along the way." Shepard said, hoping that she'll be as cooperative with him as she was with Thane.

"There's mainly Eclipse mercenaries, high-tech killers and whatnot. Undisciplined, but very well-equipped. They don't care much for who they kill, as long as they're getting paid for it… eh, except this one guy; he's alright, I guess. Thane has quite the reception waiting on him and I told him all I knew about it, but he didn't seem too worried about it." She responded, scrunching her face in thought as she recounted her meeting with the assassin.

"What about this one guy?"

"His name is Justin, Jason, Johnston? I don't remember, but he's a new guy, sticks out like a sore thumb. Pretty smart too, handy with tech and goes on and on about this thing he has, essentially calling it his baby. Don't ask me what it is, because I have no idea." She explains, shrugging at the thought of the man before answering Shepard's next question about Nassana Dantius herself, telling him she used to be a representative on the Citadel but in Nos Astra, she had even more power and uses said power to keep her so-called _friends_ in check and her enemies dead.

All the more reason why Shepard wanted the woman dead: she had used him before to kill her sister, who was a slaver, so that she wouldn't look bad in the Citadel.

She deserves what's going to happen to her.

Now was time for the big question: where was Thane?

"Dantius Towers, penthouse level of Tower One. Though there is a second tower, but it's still under construction; if Thane is smart, he'll go in from there."

"It doesn't sound like Nassana is going to just let me in, something tells me that she'll try to kill me, or her mercs will try… maybe even both, now that I think about it."

Seryna merely shook her head at that, confirming Shepard's musings as she explained that the woman is as smart as she is paranoid and that no one is getting in or out of that tower without fighting their way out.

"I can get you in there, but it'll have to be quick and we'll have only one shot to do this; any other questions that you have, I'll answer on the way there. Besides, the shift workers will be clearing out of the second tower in about twenty minutes. See you then."

Now it was showtime.

* * *

When the shuttle landed, Shepard and the others stepped out of the skycar and witnessed two salarians being murdered by a few mechs, which then turned their attention from the bodies to them as they begin firing at the new targets.

Shepard _really_ wanted this woman to die, and he's going to do everything in his power to make sure that Thane succeeds.

With only a thin piece of glass separating them from four mechs, Shepard and Garrus fired their vindicators into it and shattered the glass, before activating their omni-tools to fire disrupter rounds as two Fenris mechs came within twenty feet. As they passed the debris from the window, both men fired four bursts each and took them both down, now switching their focus back to the two Loki mechs before one of them began seizing up, electricity arcing over it before it collapsed entirely with Kasumi appearing behind it.

Shepard rolled his eyes before blowing the machines head off, not caring to watch as it fell to the ground while making noises as Kasumi walked to the closest salarian and checked for a pulse, only to shake her head.

"He's gone. But where's the other… Oh! Over here, Commander!" She calls out, waving him over to the far side of the room as she points at the wounded, but still alive salarian who sat on the ground with a puddle of blood forming beneath him.

Upon stepping closer to him, the salarian wheezed out a plea of help, hoping that they would do so.

"He's still alive…" Garrus said aloud, voicing everyone's thoughts as Shepard kneeled down to the man's half prone, crouching form.

"That's what I was going with, Scars."

"I can't feel my legs… my chest is killing me." He said, looking up at them as he coughed up some blood, before leaning against the wall for more support.

"Who did this to you and why?"

"We're… we're just night workers! Nassana, she… she sent them after us… First with the mercs, and then the mechs. She sent them to round us up, but we didn't hear… They just started shooting, even as we were running." He explained, trying to control his breathing before he hyperventilated.

Shepard was sickened by this, asking him if they just started shooting, only for it to be confirmed when he told them that everyone was too slow and that with the screaming happening, it was horrible to bear witness to it, especially after the mercs said that there wasn't any more time and that Nassana wanted them all gone, then they sent the varren after them.

After explaining this, he had another coughing fit, sending more blood out from his mouth, causing Garrus to tell Shepard that he wasn't going to make it unless they helped him. And Shepard couldn't have agreed more.

Bringing up his omni-tool, Shepard quickly applies a dose of medi-gel to the wounded salarian, telling him that it should be enough to keep him alive until help arrived soon.

Upon standing up, the worker had told him all that they needed to know about the tower layout, mercenary numbers, and even more about Nassana herself as thanks for them helping him.

"Just stay here and rest up, help should be here within the next thirty minutes. In the meantime, we're going to whatever we can to help you all."

With that said, Kasumi opens the doors and follows behind as Shepard and Garrus prepares their rifles and changes out their ammo types, one replacing it with incendiary rounds and the other armor piercing, before coming into a long hallway with large glass windows on one side and plenty of mercs and mechs awaiting them at the end.

All in all, they were outnumbered, but most certainly not outmatched.

Coming into a roll, Shepard takes cover behind one of the leftover construction materials, Kasumi activating her cloak, and Garrus staying back and equipping his mantis rifle before taking out one of the mercs with a well-placed headshot, saying to _scratch one_ as he reloaded a fresh thermal clip.

Shepard was focusing on another merc and a couple of Loki mechs, ignoring anyone else in favor of Kasumi or Garrus taking them out from either a distance or up close and-

"Personal…" Shepard muttered the last word of his thought, watching as the kleptomaniac used whatever ability that was loaded onto her omni-tool and spinal tapped one of the mercs, sending the bastard straight to the ground before cloaking and running back to them.

"What?" Kasumi asked, noticing the look that Shepard was giving her as he began shaking his head.

"One of these days, you're going to do that little stunt to someone who is expecting it, and as such you're most likely going to be tasting a fist to the mouth or a bullet to the head."

"Nah, I'll be fine." She quickly dismissed, leaning out of cover and sending out a flashbang as she reloaded.

"You say that now…"

With the fighting still going on, the two of them looks out from behind cover and sees that a majority of the mercs were now dead, all taken out by Garrus as his skill with his rifle were being put to the test once again, which made Shepard wonder; why wasn't he using his new rifle?

"How many more you counting through your scope, and on top of that, why aren't you using your new rifle that Carmine made for you? I thought it did pretty well, last mission." Shepard asks him, seeing the blank look that Garrus was giving him before shaking his head, looking through his scope before firing off another round and answering the man.

"There was six, but now there's five. And to answer your other question; I don't think that an anti-material, anti whatever that thing is, is appropriate to use on living targets. Besides, Devin told me that he should be giving Jacob some specs for recoil compensators, ballistic and trajectory locators, and a few more upgrades to it before I shoot it again. Not only that, but why did anyone think that it'd be a great idea to make the spirits damned thing out of tungsten and titanium? It weighs nearly seventy pounds, or thirty-one or two kilos as Jacob told me." Came the brisk response, the man clearly not used to firing a ballistic styled weapon in the form of a sniper rifle.

Shepard was quick to retort.

"Humans had to deal with that sort of thing a hundred years ago Garrus, I'm pretty sure that turians can do so as well! Unless, that is to say, you're weaker than us."

"Not falling for the bait this time Shepard, I know better."

Shepard only laughed at that response, leaning out of cover and dealing with two more mercs that were staying out of cover for longer than what was absolutely necessary, bring down the count from five to three.

A vanguard and two mechs.

Easy targets, if you asked them.

* * *

"Hey, I think he went in here." Came a voice from an air duct located right above the three of them.

They waited to see what would happen, or at the very least hear what happens, when the other voice told the man to go and check it out, and this resulted in the two voices arguing over who should go and check out the room.

It ended as well as expected, especially when the sounds of struggle were heard and a body falls from the duct, making the group take an involuntary step back at what just happened.

"That was… something." Kasumi said, her eyes never leaving the body, as Shepard and Garrus nodded in agreement before stepping around it and continuing on their merry way of finding Thane. Afterwards, they came under fire my at least a dozen hostiles, four of them being mechs, seven being regular troopers, and the last one being a vanguard. Shepard had told Garrus to prioritize the vanguard while ordering Kasumi to target the mechs and he'll take care of any trooper that he sees.

With each person targeting specific enemy types, it would be easier for them-

"We've got more incoming, Shepard." Garrus told him, looking through his scope as he mentally takes a tally of who else showed up.

"How many, and who is it?"

"Six mechs, three troopers, and two more vanguards." Garrus listed off immediately, taking a shot and going back to cover.

"Now there's only two vanguards left."

"Right. Stick to the same plan as before."

With both people nodding, Shepard now focuses his attention back to the fight at hand, swapping from his vindicator and equipping his mantis rifle and joins Garrus in picking off his targets one by one.

Shepard wasn't the best at using a sniper rifle, but he was proficient. As such, he made sure that every shot counted as he aimed for center mass, not really caring if it took another shot or not to take the target down. Regardless if it was a headshot or not, the person he was aiming was dead and that was all that mattered to him.

Within minutes, the twenty plus hostiles were whittled down slowly, dropping to single digits before the two of them got the vindicators out and pushed forward, advancing to the opposite side of the room where the service elevator resides.

The service elevator that would take them to the bridge, and from there, to Nassana and Thane. All they needed to do now was get past these mercs.

With another one falling dead to the ground, the last four mercs were huddled behind one of the walls, all of whom were harshly whispering to each other about what they should do, before coming up with a plan.

With Shepard motioning the group forward with their weapons drawn, they slowly advanced until they see the barrel of an avenger poking out from behind the wall, a little white towel attached to it as it began shaking back and forth.

The sheer absurdity of it made them stop in their tracks from confusion of the situation.

"I think this means we surrender? I- I don't know exactly; human movies are weird and I seen this in one of them." Came a feminine voice from behind the wall.

Shepard looked at Garrus, seeing that the man was even more confused than he was, then looked at Kasumi who seemed to be dying from laughing on the inside.

The answer was clear.

"It does mean surrender. Now, come out from behind there with your weapons on the ground and hands in the air, slowly." Shepard ordered them, watching as two humans, an asari, and a turian stepped out from behind their cover doing exactly as they were instructed.

"Wait, there are turians in the Eclipse?" Shepard asked, looking at the turian in question as he nodded.

"Yeah, there aren't many of us though. I wanted to do Blue Suns, but I got dragged into this due to a job on Omega going bad. That, and my girlfriend here wanted me to join." He answered, looking down at the ground as he recounted his tale.

"Well… we're going to be taking this elevator up now, so I advise all of you leave this place and get a more productive job in society. I hear the Citadel has many openings for plenty of benefitting jobs."

"Yes sir. And there's some workers in this locked room behind us, just so you know." They all say, the asari telling them that last tidbit of information, before leaving the room via the way that the trio came from as Shepard motions for the elevator.

"Let's go; I've had enough weirdness for today." Shepard says, unlocking the room and letting the trapped workers free.

"Agreed." Garrus says, activating the hologram controls and calling the elevator.

Kasumi just laughed at the experience, telling them that she'll never forget it.

* * *

Upon killing the elevator occupants, the group arrives at the top most floor, watching as a merc paced back and forth whilst talking to someone on his comms device.

"Don't worry, my team is always ready to go… I don't know where he is, not yet at least… Yeah, don't worry about it; we don't need any reinforcements. I'll take care of it… It's under control, I'll even go down there myself."

When he finished that last sentence, all of them pulled their weapons on the man, ordering him to turn around.

He only had two words to say.

"Damn it."

Shepard, approached the merc, getting within two feet of the guy before asking if he's seen the assassin.

"Why are you looking for him? You're not one of Nassana's mercs, so who are you?"

Shepard ignored the man's questions, stepping closer to him, which in turn makes him step back closer to the window.

"Just answer my questions and I'll let you go." He tells him, motioning towards the elevator behind him.

"Look pal, even if I knew where he was, I wouldn't tell you."

"Wrong answer."

"I have nothing more to say to you. If you shoot me, my team's right through there and they'll be all over-"

He never was able to finish his sentence, due to Shepard busting the glass behind him and motioning for Garrus to help him.

Upon both men picking the guy up, they calmly hold him over the edge, watching as the man began to freak out and struggle against their grip.

"If I were you, I'd stop struggling against the two guys who literally has your life in their hands." Came the warning from Shepard, making the merc stop his actions as he held onto their arms for dear life.

"Now, is a little information really worth dying over? Is Nassana?"

"N- no, no, no it's not. The- the assassin was down on the mezzanine, but the teams on the bridge think they might've spotted him; no one's for sure! That's all I know, I swear!" Came the hurried response, to which Shepard just nodded and motion for Garrus to toss him back in the towers, watching as he began clutching his chest and trying to regain his breath.

"Get out of here."

The merc left without nary a sound or a complaint.

"Didn't think you had it in you to do that Shep." Kasumi said, watching the sorry sight of the merc leaving by taking the elevator.

Shepard only shrugs, telling her that he had his ways of getting information that he wanted.

With them now turned around, Shepard stops and picks up an abandoned data tablet, skimming over its contents before handing it to Kasumi and telling her to keep a hold of that, because he knew exactly who to give it to.

"We've got… three people in here with us, four mechs. It shouldn't take us long to get through this."

And it didn't, within a minute of the fight starting, the mercs and mechs were dead and destroyed, leaving only thermal clips, a comm terminal, and a locked door.

Shepard decided to see what was behind door number two.

Upon opening it, he is met with the sight of a dead merc, another merc with his helmet off and sitting on the ground with a pack of playing cards, and a few salarians.

One of which had a gun trained straight at Shepard's head.

"Get back, I'll shoot! I swear I'll do it!"

"Relax, you don't want to anything you'll regret. We don't want to hurt you." Garrus tried placating his worries, but ultimately failed as the salarian still had his gun raised.

"_I_ don't want to hurt _you_… but I will. I said get back! I'll do it! Please… don't make me do it…"

This needed to handled carefully, so Shepard decided to step up and raise of both his arms.

"Hey, I'm not the bad guy here. Tell me your name; I'm Commander Shepard and it's a pleasure to meet you." He tells him, bringing all of the attention on him, the merc included as he had his mouth wide open in shock.

"I- I'm Telon. Don't… don't come any closer." He weakly threatened, his adrenaline fading quickly.

"I don't work with the mercs, and I don't want to hurt you: I'm here to help you, I promise."

Telon relented, dropping his submachine gun as he collapsed to the ground, which caused another salarian to shout his name.

"He's my brother. I just want to see if he's all right." The salarian explained, looking over his brother to ensure his health.

"Are you… are you the ones who shot the merc?" He asked, looking at the dead body on the ground.

"You mean it wasn't him?" Shepard asked, pointing at the merc who now grabbed the gun off of the floor.

"Me? Nah, I didn't kill him; he just came in right in the middle of us chatting and started screaming at us, waving a gun at us and his head just snaps to the side and his brains just gets painted on the wall." He explains, looking at the body while shaking his head at it.

"Perfect headshot with no collateral damage… Very impressive." Garrus said, nodding his head in appreciation at the assassin's skills.

Telling the workers that they can leave, they stepped aside to let them through, leaving the merc by himself as he gathered his cards together and stood up.

"So… can I go with you all?" He asked abruptly, holding his helmet in his hands as he shifted his weight from foot to foot as he waits for their response.

"What? Why should we let-" Kasumi is cut off by Shepard as he held his hand up, stepping up to the person as he stares at him with a raised eyebrow.

"What can you do? And who are you?"

"Oh my name's Justin, you can call me that or whatever else you prefer, I don't mind. I am an engineer, and this is my pride and joy!" He tells them, activating his omni-tool and before reaching over and grabbing a container and opening it, revealing a sentry gun turret.

Grabbing the small turret, he sets it down on the ground before activating it's functions, bringing the machine to life as it whirred and strafed its gun from side to side. Typing even more commands into his tool, blue colored tech-armor appeared over every square inch of the machine, catching Shepard off guard, before Justin giddily picks it up and looks at them.

"And now for my favorite part!" He tells them, flipping it over and sticking it to the walls, sensors in its legs activating and causing it to maintain its position without fail or faults.

"Whatcha think?"

"How did you get ahold of the mark 2 sentry gun schematics? Those were lost years ago, when the Alliance R&D labs were destroyed on Elysium." Shepard demanded, looking the man kid in the eyes as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Well… I lived on Elysium with my dad years ago, dad was one of the lead engineers there and would sometimes take a hardcopy of data that he was working on and bring it home. Fast forward about a year and pirates raided the place, killed my dad, torched my home, and there I was smack dab in the middle of this burning city with nothing left from my dad. As such, I grabbed the nearest thing that was in his office and tucked it in my pants, jumped out of the window, and waited for someone to rescue me. After that, lived with my mom, younger brother and sister for a couple of years, decided to go to college for a couple of years before leaving it, had to do so as I was dirt poor, decided to join the military, also didn't work out, and finally decided to join a mercenary group to pay for college." He explained, deactivating his turret and placing it back into its container and sealing it as he awaited what the Commander had to say.

"You joined a merc group to pay for college?"

"I'm not a smart man Commander. Oh and by the way, I'm a huge fan of yours and with that in mind, can I get you to sign Boomer's container?" He asked him, bringing up the container and offering Shepard a permanent marker.

"Boomer?"

"Yeah, Boomer is the name of the turret."

Shepard merely looked at him, before shrugging and signing his name on the container.

"Sweet. Now you may be wondering what happens now and let me tell you this: there's a service tunnel that you can take through the bridge that bypasses every defense that we have set up to stop this assassin… and you. Not many people know about it, hell not even Nassana knows about it. Here, I'll show you."

With that said, Justin now leads them to the back of the room, pulling back a couple of the boxes and sheets and reveals a service hatch before opening it and drops into it.

Shepard looks to his companions and shrugs his shoulders, following the mercs lead as he jumps down in the hole with Garrus and Kasumi following immediately after.

Why did the weird things have to happen to him?

* * *

"And that does it for the service tunnels. And… Oh hi Miss Nassana." Justin says, noticing that there were multiple guns being pointed at him as Shepard and the others comes up shortly after.

Nassana took one look at the man who just came up from the hatch, and grimaced.

"Shepard… you were reported to be dead." She says, not taking her eyes off the man as he shrugs in response, telling her that he got better.

"And now you're here to kill me."

"Charming as ever." He retorted.

"And I'm sure that you're finding this all very ironic: first you take care of my sister, and now you're here for me. Well, you made it this far so now what?" She asks him, leaning over the table as her guards start shifting from foot to foot.

Shepard had enough of playing her games, asking her if she really believes that he was the one who was sent to kill her, and in return all it made Nassana do was scoff at him and his remark, saying that her came here and decimated her security, destroyed her tower and now he's here for her.

"I'm actually looking for someone, and he just so happens to be the guy who's after you."

"You expect me to believe that? What is it you want? Credits? Is that it? Just tell me your price and we can make this all go away." She tells him, ready to make an offer at a moment's notice.

Too bad Shepard was already a multimillionaire.

"All the credits in the galaxy won't make this problem go away Nassana." He tells her, crossing his arms as he looks away from her and to the background, but she didn't seem to notice.

Instead, it made angrier about his response.

"And who the hell gave you the right to play god? I may not be perfect, but look at you: we both kill people for money. So what's the difference?"

"You kill people because you think they're beneath you; they're in your way. I kill people because they generally don't leave me a choice." He corrected her, eyes narrowing in agitation at the woman's remark.

And that was when the assassin made himself known.

Falling from an air duct, the man takes out the first guard via breaking his neck then turned his attention to the next and delivering a knee to the abdomen before throat punching her and proceeded to grab the loose sidearm and finishing off the last guard before turning his body to the side and avoiding the biotic attack from Nassana before shooting her straight through the heart.

All of which happened within six seconds.

Stepping back from the body, the assassin bows his head and clasps his arms together, seemingly praying for the woman.

"Wow… not gonna lie; that was awesome and kinda scary to witness." Justin said, looking at the dead bodies and back at the person who caused all of it.

Shepard stepped up to the man, asking him if they could speak for a moment, to which the man had responded that prayers for the wicked mustn't be forsaken before resuming what he was doing.

"Do you really think she deserves it?" He asks, not really understanding why he was doing it in the first place.

"Not for her, but it's for me," He clarified, stepping back from the body and going around the table to be face to face with Shepard, "the measure of an individual can be difficult to discern by actions alone. Take you, for instance. All this destruction… chaos. I was curious to see as to how far you'd go to find me. Well… here I am." He finished, stopping in front of the man and waiting for what he had to say to him.

Kind of creepy to think that someone is watching you from the shadows, but Shepard has dealt with far worse.

"I do want to talk to you… but how did you know that I was here?"

"Gunfire and explosions. I tend to work quietly. If I have to fight through guards then I've made a mistake. And I rarely make mistakes. You may have… disrupted my plan, but your distraction eventually proved valuable." He explained, inspecting Garrus, Kasumi, and Justin as Shepard explained to him that they needed him for a mission to assault the collectors and stop them for good.

"Attacking the collectors would mean that we would have to pass through the Omega 4 relay… No ship has ever done so and returned."

Shepard rebutted this by saying that he was told that it was impossible to get to Ilos, and Thane had to agree with him, stating that he'd built a career on performing the impossible.

Shepard only grinned at that comment.

Then Thane hit him with a reality check.

"I'm dying, but low survival odds do not concern me; the abduction of your colonists does, however."

"You're dying? Are you contagious? How long do you have?" Shepard asked him, because from the reports that he read about the man, none of them ever stated anything about him dying.

"If you're interested, we can discuss this on your ship. The problem isn't contagious and it won't affect my work." He promised, giving Shepard a mental note of what he's going to do when he gets back to the Normandy.

"I'm sorry, but I wasn't aware of that. I s there anything I can do?" He asked him, already concerned for the man's health.

Thane merely responded that him being given the opportunity to help was enough and that the universe was a dark place and that he's trying to make it brighter before he finally dies.

"Many innocents died today and I wasn't fast enough to save them, and they suffered because of it. I must atone for that. I will work for you Shepard, no charge." Thane told him, shaking his hand and confirming their agreement.

Now all that was left to do was to figure out what to do with Justin.

Taking his pistol out and aiming it at him, Shepard narrows his eyes at the young man who now had his hands raised in surrender.

"Hey now, we can talk about this." Justin said, not daring to move a wrong way lest he gets shot.

"Why should we trust a mercenary with military-grade equipment? Not only that, but in order to join the Eclipse, you have to kill someone in cold-blood. And you're wearing Eclipse armor." Shepard questioned, motioning towards to container and the armor that he had on.

"Come on man, you even signed his casing… I swear to you, I din NOT kill anyone! The guy I was _supposed_ to kill had a heart attack and died, and since I had no idea what to do, I left and came back and told them that the guy was dead. That's how I joined this gang, I swear to you Commander; I did NOT murder anyone! Those workers that I was trapped in the room with, I had every chance to kill them, but I didn't. I sat down and played card games, even offered to let them play at one point, and did nothing else. The assassin over there obviously left me alive for some reason and not kill me along with that other guy. That has to count for something right?" He pleads, looking at Thane in hopes that he could be able to help him get out of this mess.

"He's got a point Shepard; Thane could have killed him but he didn't." Garrus pointed out, motioning for him to talk to Thane.

Shepard looks to Thane, seeing him nod his head and continuing on for Justin's sake.

"It would've been easy, but I didn't kill him because he, unlike the others, helped as many workers as he could to safety. A mercenary doesn't do that. He could have, at any point, turned hostile and shot them as they had their backs turned, and he didn't. He put himself in harm's way by helping you, and he showed you the path that I took; however, if you would've climbed another level, you would've been directly behind me." Thane explains to him, standing beside the man as Justin lowers his hands and sighs in relief at having been saved.

Shepard lowers his weapon and nods to Justin, apologizing to him for putting him in that position.

"It's- it's fine Commander; you were only looking out for your own and I understand that. I promise you; you will not regret this. As such, since I probably am going to be shot on sight by any Eclipse, can I… can I join you?" He asks the man, looking him in the eyes as he hopes for the best.

Shepard was taken back by the request, asking him why he's wanting to join him and what skills he has to bring to the table.

"I'm a skilled engineer, I have that turret that is linked with both of my omni-tools, yes I have two of them just in case something happens, I can work on your all's armor and weapons by improving them, obviously, and also I still have the original schematics for the turret." Justin tells him, hoping that it would be enough to sway the man into letting him join his team.

Shepard began mulling it over within his head, tilting it from side to side before stopping and looking back at him.

"Justin?"

"Yes Commander?"

Shepard smiled.

"Welcome to the team."

* * *

**And that does it for this chapter, I hope that you enjoyed it and thanks for reading it! Like I said before, if my laptop takes too long to get fixed (it's an older model hp elitebook), which is anywhere between 2 weeks and a month, I'll post the first few chapters of my other story for you all to read in the meantime. You may be wondering how I'll do that and the answer is simple: my phone... may god have mercy on us.**

**See you all next time!**


	15. The Order of the Justicars

**Whoo I'm back baby! And as such, I'm here to tell you all that this story and the other one is receiving another update! Think of it as an apology for the inconveniences that you all had to put up with. Not only that, but if time permits it (I do work second shift) I'll be able to post chapter 16 by the end of the week. You can probably guess who we are going to be recruiting next, judging from the chapter's title.**

**Review time:**

**Blaze: some chapters he's going to be in while others he isn't; think what happened to him last mission and the fact that Chakwas is very serious about her job. Not to worry though, he is in next chapter.**

**Stalker: why must you remind me of the hellish events? I stopped playing horde in gears 2 whenever they happened because of those sires wielding lancers. A melee only enemy armed with chainsaws is a seriously bad time.**

**Scratcher: you captured his personality perfectly with that review, and I loved every second of reading it. I even showed my friend who that character is based off of and he wants that to be a thing in the story. With your pernission, of course, I'd be honored to have it in here.**

**Guest: you would think so, but strangely enough the one shot is actually a 20mm mounted sniper rifle, which is strange considering the bore of the barrel is too large. But that's just me, and as such I made it a fifty cal.**

**With the reviews out of the way, let's get this chapter started!**

* * *

**Chapter Fifteen: The Order of the Justicar**

Thane and Jack had some interesting things to say about the vista that they were in: Thane had mentioned how he had spent a couple of years at Illium with a goal that he needed to accomplish, but with that goal completed, he had never once took time to view the horizon.

"It is… beautiful." He says, his eyes actually seeing the scenery for the first time, instead of him making glances and looking at it.

Jack had made fun of him for that, saying that there were a trillion other planets with a horizon to look at and that it's nothing special to look at.

Shepard just rolls his eyes at the remark, shaking his head at the woman as he laughs to himself.

"Well jack, what do you think of the place?"

"Lots of money and credits here; soft people who'd make good and easy victims. This place is just one bad day away from becoming Omega, and that is a day that I'd kill to see." She answers, looking around the vista with predatory eyes as images of what would happen fills her mind.

It'd be a glorious day, that's for sure.

"Right."

Going up a flight of stairs, the group is stopped by an asari warning them about going inside the bar, stating that he's causing trouble and that e's demanding her to sign the bar over to him.

Of course Shepard would be the guy to be made aware of such a thing; he's pretty sure that the cosmic deity that is currently watching over his life is enjoying itself at him being the person who is always called upon to solve these issues and almost always putting his life on the line.

"Is there anything that I could do to help?" He asks her, watching as the asari quickly shook her head in refusal.

"Oh no, that stuff might fly on Omega but not here; I'm hooking up security cameras right now. If he, and anyone else, causes trouble, I'll have their asses arrested."

Shepard just looked at the woman with a blank face, before closing his eyes and breathing deeply and exhaling as he didn't have time to deal with the authorities.

"Good luck arresting a Spectre; I'm sure you and whoever else tries to arrest me will find themselves in a shit storm."

"What the hell do you…" The woman trails off, finally recognizing the face of the man that stood in front of her as her eyes widen in surprise.

"Oh- oh my. You're Commander Shepard! I'm so sorry commander, I didn't recognize you. Tell you what, I can work with you here: you go in and take care of that idiot and I'll guarantee that you drink here for free, for as long as you live."

"Deal."

With that said, Shepard and his companions enter the bar and sees the man that the asari was warning them about standing at the counter arguing with the bartender who was clearly annoyed by the man's demands.

She looked as if she was one insult away from painting the man all over the wall.

With Shepard coming up from behind him and tapping his shoulder and causing the man to stop whatever he was going to say to the woman, with him turning around and gaining a shocked look from seeing the man that stood before him.

"… Commander Shepard?"

'_Of course it'd be Conrad Verner, because why not?'_ Shepard thought to himself, grabbing the bridge of his nose as he looked at the man and shook his head.

"Hey, if you know this idiot, can you rein him in before I slap his ass with a singularity?" The bartender told him, her voice clearly showing her annoyance at the man causing a scene within the bar.

Conrad was dumbfounded at the sight of the man, telling him if he remembers him from when he was hunting Saren and how he wanted to become a spectre and help him.

Oh Shepard remembers alright, Shepard remembers it clearly.

"Then you shoved a gun in face and showed me what it truly means to be extreme! And that's a lesson that I learned well. So you're alive huh? I hear it goes like that in the biz," Shepard _really_ wanted sigh at that comment, but refrained from doing so, "so why don't you sit back and watch how it's done? I've got some asses to kick."

"Conrad, the only person's ass who is going to get kicked is yours, if you keep bothering the lady. And on top of that, why are you acting like me?" He questions the man, his face filled with disappointment at how the man was acting and how he could get himself into serious trouble if he goes down this route.

"What, are you crazy? I'm not a Spectre working for the Council! I'm on my own, backed only by my wits and my nerves with no rules and laws holding me back from keeping me doing whatever it takes to get the job done." He defended, motioning to himself as Shepard finally notices the armor that the man was wearing.

At seeing it, Shepard actually sighed at the sight.

This was starting to get sad.

"How did you get the Onyx series of N7 Armor?"

"Oh this thing? Yeah, they make pretty convincing replicas these days, if you're willing to pay. Getting the getup was pretty expensive, but my wife was really supportive; she even paid for my fare off-world!"

At hearing that last part did Shepard feel bad for the man: his wife literally sent him away on this fiasco with the knowledge that he may or may not come back at all. Now he felt bad for the man. Even the bartender shook her head at that, in the background.

"Do… do you even have any combat training? And I'm not talking simulations, I'm talking about real-life combat, the type where someone is literally trying to shoot, stab, or whatever else they're going to do to you with the intent to kill you?"

"I don't have time for training, and you were a big jerk back then. But you saved the galaxy and showed everyone that humans mattered… then… you died. The galaxy needed someone like you Shepard, we all did."

At hearing that, Shepard asks him if he just wanders the galaxy righting any wrongdoings which caused the man to get defensive about the subject, telling him that he talks to people and asks if the needed help and that he'd be surprised at how many actually needed it.

"Oh and sometimes I poke through crates too, you know, for extra credits." He timidly admits, looking down at the ground as a small amount of shame graced his features.

That last part hit Shepard a little too close to home: he knows that feeling very well.

"Any decent security system will detect that you aren't in the military, much less my squad." He told the man, explaining to him that with him doing this could lead to severe consequences.

"I just say that I'm deep-cover, and that I don't appear on any of the systems. I'm doing the best I can, okay?" He defends, explaining his actions poorly as he tried to find reason within them.

This needed to stop now, before he or anyone else gets hurt, which causes him to ask Conrad about why he was trying to get the deed to the bar.

Conrad had explained that the bar is actually a store-front for a red sand dealer, and that in order to crack it open, he needed to have the deed.

"What? Who the hell told you that?" The bartender demands, her face contorting from annoyance to a small amount of anger at the obviously false accusation.

Conrad then told her that it was a clerk at a weapons store near the carport and that she was an undercover cop, telling them that he told him about the bar when he had introduced himself to her.

It was sad before, but know it was just plain pitiful at this point. Both the bartender and Shepard knew that he was put up for this by the clerk.

"Listen, crap-for-brains: first, we don't sell red sand, and second, that stuff is legal on Illium! You can literally get a liscence to sell it!"

Shepard told them both that he'd speak with this cop to clear any confusion up, much to both of their appreciation: one for getting the man to find out the truth and return with him on their side, and the other for getting the annoyance out of her bar.

All of the crazy things happen to him, and he's sure that whoever is in charge is enjoying the torment that he goes through.

* * *

**(I am, lol)**

* * *

After talking to the asari claiming to be an under-cover officer, hacking a couple of terminals for Liara, and talking to an asari to help Shiala about medical contracts, did Shepard finally make it back to the bar with everything that he needed to get this whole fiasco finished, before Conrad gets himself severely injured or even killed.

"Dammit, this is just a misunderstanding!" The fake cop says, trying to feign innocence to the two real cops and the bar owner, with her telling her to tell that to the judge and that cameras caught her extortion attempts from numerous angles.

"I was misled! I was told that you had agreed to sell!"

"Take her away, before I have my bartender throw her out." The owner tells the cops, watching as they led her out of the bar and away from the area.

Conrad was more than confused about the ordeal, asking Shepard about what happened to the undercover cop from the kiosk and about why they arrested her.

Shepard felt bad enough for the man, especially with his wife practically leaving him, him being taken advantage of, and almost getting arrested at the end there. He couldn't help himself when he decided to make the man feel good for once.

"She wasn't a cop, but a deep-cover operative from a terrorist cell. Conrad… I'd have never found her if not for you." He told him, praising his efforts and giving the man a pat on the shoulder in a job well done.

"Really?" He asked, hope and disbelief filling his voice as Shepard nodded.

"Really, you did a great job, Conrad. Now please, go home. I can take of it from here, okay?"

"Can do Shepard, thanks. And it's really good to have you back, and I'm sorry about getting into trouble and having you getting me out of it." He tells him, smiling at the man as he leaves the bar.

Upon approaching the bar, the bartender thanks him for getting rid of Conrad, telling him that it saves her from bludgeoning the man with his own spine and that it'd make the other customers nervous if they witnessed that. She then introduced

"Since you solved the problem, my boss told me to give this to you; it tells us that you get free drinks for the rest of your life, no matter the amount of credits that it'd cost to replace the alcohol." She tells him, activating her omni-tool and sending him the gift, which Shepard graciously accepted.

"I'll drink later, I've got some things to do." He tells her, with the woman nodding and going back to her business.

Free drinks for life? He'll be sure to take advantage of that.

* * *

"Are you Officer Dara, if so, then I'm looking for an asari woman by the name of Samara."

"Wait. Why? Do you have a problem, or… did she kill someone already?" The woman asked, sounding a bit worried about their reasoning for looking for the justicar.

"Relax ma'am, I'm just here to speak with her." Shepard tells hers, attempting to placate her worries.

"That's good; Samara is the first justicar I've seen on Illium and, if I'm lucky, things will stay peaceful and she'll be the last one. She went to the commercial spaceport a few hours ago. If you want to get there, the pedestal on the balcony will summon a cab." She tells them, motion towards the balcony and pointing at the pedestal in question.

When he asked her about what he should do when he meets Samara, Dara tells him to be polite when they do meet the woman, informing them that justicars embody their highest laws and that they usually stay in asari space. Not only that, but she isn't used to dealing with aliens.

With the woman answering all of their questions about justicars in general and Samara, Shepard thanks the woman for her time and the information that she had given him.

With one last goodbye, Shepard approaches the pedestal and hails for a cab as Jack and Thane gave their opinions about the woman.

Thane praised her for trying to make the galaxy a better place, while Jack said it was a waste of time and that there were too many places and too little people to make a dent in the crime.

* * *

After talking to Pitne For, Shepard decided to speak with Detective Anaya about the justicar, after he had been informed of the woman's part in the ongoing investigation of the murder of Pitne For's partner and the justicar's involvement.

She'd be their best bet in finding the woman.

Upon seeing the group walk in, Anaya comments on their weapons, telling them that they're nice and to try and not use them in her district.

"So what can I do for you?"

Taking a seat across from her, Shepard tells her that he's looking for Samara, with her telling him that if he's got a score to settle with her then they need to take it elsewhere, stating that she had enough trouble in the district already.

"I need to recruit Samara for my mission, then we'll be on our way."

"Justicars usually work alone, but they are drawn to impossible causes." She commented, with Jack telling the detective that she'd enjoy their mission.

"If you're getting her out of my district, then I'll get you to her ASAP. She's at the crime scene investigating the death of a volus merchant, why she's taking interest in a simple murder of a merchant remains a mystery to me." She tells them, wanting to work with them as much as she possibly could.

"You're letting her in the crime scene?"

"I'm a cop, I'll work with a justicar all I can. Besides, she's been looking at crime scenes longer than the both of us has been alive _combined_. She knows how to handle herself." She explains, telling the man a little bit about the person that they're dealing with.

Shepard couldn't help but notice how the woman was acting anxious, so he asked her about why she's acting like that to get Samara out of the district.

Having to explain why, she tells him that her bosses are afraid that she'll cause a cross species incident and, in order to avoid that, they want her to detain the woman before that could happen. But with her Justicar Code, she wouldn't be allowed to take her into custody and as a result of that, she'll have to kill her is she tries.

That was a bombshell that was dropped onto Shepard: the woman has to follow her orders and if she does, she'll be killed.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

"I have no interest in dying, so if you lure her away with some big noble cause before I have to carry out my orders, I'm thrilled to help you in any way, shape, and form. What is that saying you humans use: _help me, help you_ I think is what it was."

"Your superiors are sending you to certain death, therefore you have a right to disobey their orders." Shepard tells her, not wanting a good cop to die because someone was worried about what might happen.

Jack looked over to Thane when Shepard said that.

"Let's remember that next time when Shepard sends us into impossible odds."

"That's about twice a day." Thane added on, watching as Jack nodded and Shepard turned to look at them.

"Most of the time, I'm not being stupid about it. I can't, however, say the same about Anaya's superiors." Shepard retorts, shaking his head at the two before turning back around to face the woman.

"I'm a cop and I know my duty: I've been ordered to detain and I will, unless you get her to leave my district first. You can find her at the crime scene, or somewhere beyond, around the corner and through the police line. I'll send word to the officers there to let you and your squad through."

With that said, the three of them leaves the office area and heads through the line, finding a message about missing shipments, some salvage, and four LOKI mechs and three asari eclipse mercs. All of which were hostile when they spotted them.

"A human! Open fire!"

That confused Shepard. Jack was a human as well, and Thane was a drell. They seen him first and started shooting at him immediately, and still shot at him when Jack rounded the corner. If he wasn't a human, does that mean that they would've shot at Jack instead, or would they still have said whatever species he was and shoot him?

"I blame life, chance, the Queen of England, and whoever else is in charge." Shepard mumbled to himself, watching as Jack sent a mech straight into a wall and Thane use his rifle to take out one of the asari.

Shaking his head, Shepard shot down the other two mechs with relative ease while leaving the last two mercs to be dealt with via biotics and gunfire.

All in all, the fight lasted the entirety of a minute.

Entering the door, the group is met with the sight of an asari merc flying through the window as another asari, presumably Samara, used her biotics to slow her fall to the ground as she stepped up to the downed asari and questioned her yet again. But when she wasn't given the answer that she was looking for, she had simply broke the woman's neck with her foot, before calmly looking at the new arrivals.

"My name is Samara, a servant of the Justicar Code. My quarrel is with these Eclipse sisters, but I see three well-armed people in front of me. Are we friend or foe?" She calmly asks, waiting for their response.

"I don't agree with how you handled that merc, but we've got bigger things to worry about. I'm Commander Shepard and I was told that I could find you here." Shepard tells her, getting right into business and straight to the point.

"How may I be of service?"

"I am assembling a team that is going up against suicidal odds, and as such I'm going to need the best. And that's where you come in. I need you for this mission, as it's going to increase our chances of survival innumerably."

Samara didn't say anything for a time, simply tilting her head from side to side as she inspected Shepard, before nodding her head slowly in satisfaction.

"I sense the truth in what you say and it humbles me. But, before I leave with you, I am seeking an incredibly dangerous fugitive. I cornered her here and the Eclipse sisters smuggled her off-world. I must find the name of the ship she left on before the trail goes cold."

Before Shepard could ask for clarification, Detective Anaya enters the room and tells her that she wishes that she would've went with Shepard, as she had been ordered to take her into custody if she wouldn't leave the scene.

Shepard was ready for a fight to start, but was surprised to see that Samara had agreed to the woman's request as she stated that her code gave her a single day to comply with her demands, but no longer.

Shepard was confused and made this aware to the both of them.

"Uh… the human is lost here. Can one of you clarify on what just happened?" He asks, hoping that someone would do just that.

"I was trying to convince her to leave with you, but justicars and their code…"

"The detective has been ordered to detain me; I can't force her to disobey an order."

"And after a day, you'll start killing anyone in your way? Sounds badass." Jack said, looking at Samara as she nodded at her question.

"I am afraid so."

With Shepard striking up a deal with her, saying that he'll find the name of that ship while she is detained by the detective so that she doesn't have to kill anyone. Samara, much to both his and the detective's relief, agreed with his proposal.

Now it was time to find that ship's name, not for the sake of the mission, but for Anaya's sake.

* * *

After speaking with Pitne For yet again, Shepard gains his elevator access card and takes the elevator down to the levels where the Eclipse sisters are in control of. If Wasea, the woman that they're after, is anywhere in the area, it'd be here.

As soon as they step off the elevator, a single mech is waiting for them, that is until Jack uses her biotics to throw it out of the window behind it.

"That was less fun than what I thought it'd be." She commented, a frown crossing her features as she stared out of the window.

"Well, there's always the living targets." Shepard tells her, which causes Jack to shrug and nod.

"Yeah you're right." She agrees, shouldering her shotgun as she and the others goes through the door only to be met with an asari throwing a container filled with a cloud of dust, which when they came into contact with it, immediately caused the suit's onboard VI to alert them of a toxicity level and EDI to inform them the dust boosts biotic potential but causes severe tissue damage over time.

Needless to say, they stayed well away from it.

Jack, however, used it in very small doses, which didn't surprise Shepard in the slightest.

With that asari getting flung into a wall and shot in the face at point blank with Jack's shotgun, that only left three more targets to deal with at the other side of the room.

"Thane, think you can fall back and start taking shots at them with your rifle? It'd help weaken their shields." Shepard asked him, looking at the drell as he nodded his head and grabbed his viper rifle and showed just how agile the man is when he had maneuvered around the crates and containers without a single shot hitting him.

A complete opposite from Devin, Grunt, and Tyler. The three of them can't go thirty seconds without getting shot several times.

"Hey Commander Cock Face, mind helping me shoot these fuckers?" Jack called out to him, snapping Shepard from his thoughts as he sees her glaring at him for his lack of action.

"Yeah, yeah, don't get your panties in a twist…"

That remark earned him a biotic enhanced elbow to the ribs.

With a crack of sound, the two of them turns to the mercs and sees one fall dead to the ground, a hole in her visor right where the eye is as the other two takes cover.

"Jack, toss out a pull on one of them, let Thane take care of her while I shoot the other." He orders her, climbing on top of a crate so that he could shoot over the cover that the mercs were using.

"Whatever." She tells him, doing exactly as she had been told to do as Shepard fired at the other merc who wasn't currently airborne.

With the floating merc dead and still in the air and the other with a few extra holes within her head, neck, and chest area, the three of them continues on through the area, only to stop momentarily as three initiate mercs came through the door guns blazing in hopes to kill the intruders.

They lasted the entirety of three seconds.

With that distraction out of the way, they continue through the door and grab a discarded shotgun, only to stop as they hear someone behind a closed door talking themselves. When they entered the room, they are met by an asari wearing an Eclipse uniform.

She had tried explaining herself to them, but Jack interrupted her with a shotgun blast to the upper portion of her body, silencing the woman and her excuses permanently.

When she looked at the other two people in her company, she put away her shotgun and raised an eyebrow at them.

"What? She was wearing an enemy uniform and I told her that I was going to kill her because of that." She explained as Shepard shook his head at the response.

When they went and searched the room, they found a box of power cells and a terminal with biotic research on it, which would definitely come in handy for later use.

With them climbing a couple flight of stairs and clearing two more rooms filled with even more mercs and mechs, did they finally come into a large, open room with a gunship leaving the room, with over a dozen enemies on the ground consisting of vanguards, initiates, mechs, heavies, and a couple of commandos. All of whom were wanting the three of them dead.

Too bad that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. The three of them were sure of that.

Thane elected to stay back and snipe them from a distance, while Jack provided close support with her biotics and shotgun, leaving Shepard to be the main person who would take out any target that wasn't too close for comfort or too far away. That, and he was wanting to see what that new function was that Justin and Mordin had loaded onto his omni-tool could do. It was simply labeled as _'surprise'_.

Aiming his omni-tool at a floating asari, Shepard activated his new ability and watched as a long, arrow-like projectile came from it and hit the helpless woman right in the head, ceasing her movements immediately.

Shepard had only one thing to say about that.

"Did… did I just… did I just shoot a _crossbow bolt_ from my omni-tool?"

"That's what it looked like, so yeah you did. Why do you have that option anyways? What are you going to do, go on a crusade or something?" Jack remarked, laughing at her own joke as Shepard shook his head.

"First of all, the crusades happened long before the crossbow was invented, second of all, I just got it today."

"Nerd."

Shaking his head at that, Shepard kept his mouth shut and he fired the rest of his ammo into a couple more mercs before reloading, hearing Thane in the background taking out some more mercs as Jack does the same.

It was at times like this when Shepard wishes that he had his old Spectre weapons, they didn't require reloading, had better range, better accuracy, and they even looked nicer in their solid black color pallet. He's only thinking this, because his vindicator ran out of thermal clips, so he's using his pistol until he can scavenge some more from the battlefield.

"Maybe I can go to my home on that colony and get them…" He silently mutters to himself, thinking that they could do a small detour before going to the next place and picking up their next recruit.

Yeah, he may do just that.

Seeing that Jack was waving her hand in front of his face, Shepard is shaken from his internal monologue as he looks at both Jack and Thane as they stare back at him.

"What?" He asks, raising an eyebrow as he notices the looks that they're giving him.

"You've been deep in thought for the last three minutes, Commander. Are you okay?" Thane asks him, causing Shepard to be confused.

"I've spent three minutes stuck in my thoughts?"

"Yes Commander Downs, I was getting ready to find you a coloring book and some crayons for you to eat before you came to." Jack harshly, and offensively, told him, rolling her eyes at the look she was given by the man.

"I'm fine, thanks for asking, just thinking about some old weapons that I had that didn't need to be reloaded after twenty-four shots. I was thinking about going and getting them later on." He explained, walking over to a few of the bodies and gathering the leftover thermal clips before reloading.

With that out of the way and them climbing yet another flight of stairs, they come outside of the building on a bridge that is connected to another bridge in the middle, with mechs, boxes, and even that gunship that left from before now firing at them.

With fragile crates, little cover, and air superiority not on their side, Shepard and the others fall back to any form of cover that wasn't going to break and shatter after a few shots.

Shepard grabbed his missile launcher from his back as Jack and Thane modified their ammo to better hit the gunship, the three of them waits until it draws closer before firing at it, with Jack doing the least amount of damage, Thane using his rifle to take shots at the glass in hopes of hitting the pilot, and Shepard firing at the thrusters and stabilizers.

The pilot had fired their own rockets down at them in return, following that up with a strafing run which either destroyed, warped, are shattered most of the cover that was available to the squad, but ultimately failing to land a fatal wound on any one of them.

When the cockpit window began cracking and the engines began showing fire and smoke did the pilot panic, sending everything at that they had at their disposal towards them before a missile to the tail sent it to the ground, causing it to explode and send out shrapnel and fragments everywhere, hitting all of their cover as they ducked and shielded themselves from it.

Jack wasn't so lucky, seeing as a piece of shrapnel had hit her in the arm and caused it to cut deep, making the woman scream obscenities at the destroyed gunship and dead pilot.

"MOTHERFUCKER, GOD DAMN, SON OF A BITCH!" She cursed, holding her arm as she began violently kicking the body of the pilot as it fell from the wreckage.

Shepard and Thane caught up to the pissed biotic and pulled her away from the body, with Thane holding the woman still as Shepard used his omni-tool to administer medi-gel onto her wound, which caused the woman to hiss in pain and rub her arm as Thane lets her go.

"Thanks, fucking blue bitch deserved to die." She tells them, shooting the corpse one more time to vent her frustration as both Shepard and Thane looked at each other.

"That's why armor is always a nice investment, Jack; it keeps the shrapnel, heat, and cold at bay."

"Zip it Commander, Thane here doesn't have armor."

"But I have enough sense to know when to get as far as possible from an explosion, not dive behind a fragile crate." Thane rebutted, earning him a scowl from the woman.

"Let's just get inside and find this Wasea and get that ship's name, we have lives that depends on it." Shepard tells them, moving on from the scene as the two of them follows his lead and enters the next building.

Once inside, they found a few things of interest: one was a data pad that proved that Pitne For was a criminal, the other was an unsecured terminal, and the last thing was a volus who was obviously high as can be.

This was going to be interesting.

Stumbling around and nearly falling to the ground as he had bumped into Shepard, the volus activates his biotics and speaks.

"I am a biotic god! I think things and they happen! Fear me, lesser creatures, for I am biotics made flesh!" He boasts, trying, and failing miserably, to impress and/or intimidate them.

"You need help, especially with how you're acting right now."

"You need help! You stand before the mightiest biotic ever! Yes, the asari who were injecting me with so many drugs were terrifying, but then I began to smell my greatness! They may laugh when I fall over, but they don't know what I know in my head- that I know that I am amazingly powerful. Fear me!"

That whole explanation was both as ridiculous as it was sad, and the three of them couldn't but help shake their heads at the pitiful display.

The more he went on, the less sense he made, and as he made his way to the doors to fight the mercs, Shepard casually tips the volus over and watches as he falls to the ground. This, in turn, brings him closer to reality as he stood back shakily.

"But… great wind. Biotic god! I'm… what was I saying? I'm… tired. You… may be right. Yes, I'm tired. I'll destroy the universe later…" He slurs out, stumbling down the corridor and falling to the ground as he rounds the corner, his legs being the only thing visible at the end of the hallway.

"That's just sad." Shepard said, walking down the other end of the corridor and going through the doors and seeing the woman that they're after standing and typing away at a data pad, as she spoke to them.

"Everything has gone to hell since we've smuggled that filthy creature off-world. First a justicar shows up, and now you. At least I can take pleasure into turning your head into a PULPY MASS!" She screams, her biotics flaring as she launches the container with the toxic compound at them with high speeds.

Shepard sidestepped the oncoming projectile as it exploded behind him, Wasea's biotics glowing the entire time as she had a look of rage on her face.

With her there, the three of them opens fire at her, her barriers flaring as she calls for reinforcements.

"Jack, Thane take care of whoever else shows up, I'll take care of Wasea." Shepard tells them, modifying his ammo to fire disruptor rounds for his vindicator, armor-piercing for his mantis, and inferno rounds for his carnifex. One being used to take out the barrier, armor, and finally her life in that exact order.

Now, if only she'd stop throwing things at him so that he can get a shot off.

Or, he could use the last few shots from his missile launcher to bring her down. He was in a hurry, so it would make sense…

* * *

Wasea was having a terrible day: an Ardat-Yakshi came to them to be smuggled off the planet and had paid her a pretty large sum to get it done, which was easy enough. But a day later, a damned justicar shows up looking for the Ardat-Yakshi that they had helped escape, and immediately started problems for her and her mercenaries. And now a dead Speactre shows up, kills practically everyone in his way to get to her and is now within the same room as she is and has costed her a fortune in damages alone.

And that isn't counting the personnel costs either.

She hears one of her subordinates cry out as she falls to the ground dead, and the other one silently leaning against the wall with her weapon held loosely within her grip. She was going to scream at the merc when she slid to ground, as her blood coated the wall and began pooling right beneath her.

"Must I do everything myself?" She questioned herself, throwing another toxic canister at them when something caught her eye, several somethings to be exact.

Looking at the _not dead_ Spectre, she sees that he had fired three missiles at her, with him giving a small wave at her just before they impacted her barriers, causing them and her armor to practically shatter, throwing her up against the wall and to the ground afterwards.

Struggling to stand up due to the massive amount of pain that now coursed through her system, Wasea only had enough strength to let out a gasp of pain as her gut, left arm, and chest exploded violently with pain, causing her to fall back to the ground.

"I think that finished her off." She heard the human say, a trio of footsteps making their way closer to her as she used whatever little strength she had left to reach for her pistol, but ultimately couldn't get a grip on it.

"Or not…"

* * *

Shepard looked down in pity at the seriously injured woman who was barely touching the pistol that kept slipping from her grasp the more she reached for it.

"Or not…" He said, retracting his previous statement as Jack aimed her shotgun at the woman.

Shepard held up his arm to stop her as he kneeled down and activated his omni-tool, applying a canister or two of medi-gel to the woman as she shakily turned to look at him, dark almost purple, almost purple blood coating her face as she looked up at him.

"W- why di- did you save me?" She breathlessly asked, giving up on reaching for the pistol as she stared at the man with his omni-tool active.

"You survived not one, not two, but _three_ missiles to the chest. No one can do that and survive, except a krogan. You're strong Wasea, not only that but we're going to need people like you if we want to win this war. I'm sure you have medi-gel on your omni-tool, so that's all I'm administering to you. I'm not going to kill you, but I do want you to reevaluate your life decisions and become a better person. Come one everyone, let's go." He tells her, standing up and grabbing the data pad and leaving with his two squad mates in tow.

She used the last bit of her medi-gel and got herself up from the floor, looking down at her completely destroyed armor and the blood that was now on the floor.

She wanted to grab her pistol and continue fighting, but she knew that she didn't have the strength to fight on. All she could do was solemnly accept the mercy that he had given her and let them leave with the information they wanted.

Maybe she should retire, go to some farming colony and work there as a security specialist. She hears that they get decent benefits, free housing, and many other advantages.

She may go and do just that.

* * *

"I've got the name of the ship you were after: the AML Demeter. That's the ship that the Eclipse used to smuggle your fugitive off-word." Shepard said, tossing Samara the data pad that he grabbed as he walked through the office entrance with Jack and Thane in tow.

Samara was pleasantly surprised to hear that he had found the ship that she was wanting, telling the man that she was impressed and that since he fulfilled his part of the deal, then she as well will fulfill hers.

"I am ready to leave immediately, if that will satisfy your superiors, detective?" She told Anaya, much to woman's relief as she nodded at the woman.

"You're free to go justicar. It's been an honor having you in my station… and it's nice that you didn't kill me, too." She added, leaning back and sighing in relief as she no longer has to worry about being killed for following her orders.

"The Normandy is docked near the main trading floor, Samara. I'll see you there."

Telling him that she must be sworn into his service, Samara does a small ritual, reciting a mantra simply stating that she'll do everything that he tells her to, and that that his orders are her code.

Finishing upon that, she nods in appreciation as Shepard tells her that he is honored to have witnessed that and that he now has her within his crew. He then tells her to meet him on the ship while he spoke with the detective about the murder and the evidence that he found against Pitne For.

"I'll speak with you aboard your vessel, Commander." Samara tells him, leaving the station as Shepard stayed back to give the evidence to the woman so that she can finish her cases, but vouching for the evidence that he brought to light.

With that out of the way, they finally made their way back to the ship with another name crossed off of their recruitment list, and did some good while doing it.

All in all, today was a good day for Shepard… though he's going to be talking to Justin about the crossbow fiasco, when he sees him.

He doesn't even know if anyone in the galaxy uses those things anymore.

* * *

**That wraps up this chapter! Now that I'm back in the swing of things, next update should come soon. And after this chapter is released, the other story should be updated later today.**

**I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I'll see you all next time!**


	16. Shore Leave, Love Issues, Sisterly Love

**Hello everyone, I'm back with another update for you all to read and enjoy. This chapter takes place during Miranda's loyalty mission, but that's not the setting for this chapter. This chapter is yet another interaction chapter with Tulma and Devin. The end of the chapter, however, coincides with the end of her mission.**

**I would've gotten this out a few hours sooner, but a few friends came over and we decided to hang out for a bit, which was honestly longer than what I had planned, but nevertheless here's the update.**

**Review Time:**

**Mythian: he will pique her interest, but in a purely educational way. She's curious about him and how he came to be the man he is today, with how he holds himself and presents himself on a day to day basis.**

**Blaze: glad to see that someone got the subtle joke I threw in there, even if it's already been done a few times by now.**

**Captain: you got a point there, but what would a quarian biotic even look like? We've seen biotics of practically every species except them. If only they were to add them in any future installments of the franchise.**

**Guest: care to elaborate on what you mean there? Hard to decipher and extrapolate on what you're referring to.**

**Today, in America, is Veteran's Day; a day in which we honor both past and current veterans of all branches of oir military. As a veteran myself and on my behalf, thank you to those who have served, are serving, and will serve. Just know that you are respected and cared about by not only myself, but millions of others. Thank you all.**

* * *

**Chapter Sixteen: Shore Leave, Love Issues, and Sisterly Love**

Devin was bored as all hell: he was still on bed rest, still had three more days until he could get back on the ground team, Chakwas kept drawing blood, Tulma was off ship and somewhere at the space port, and Kasumi was currently annoying him as she spun around in circles on the stool right beside him.

That wouldn't have been so bad, if she wasn't playing some weird turian love song as she sang the part of the woman and him being forced to do the part of the man.

There was no god, no reprieve, and no mercy. There was only that one damned song that she had been playing nonstop for an entire hour. Death would be a mercy, a mercy that was gladly taken away from the poor soul as his tormentor enjoyed his suffering.

"… I've been waiting for this day, when you'd come home, with your head held high and victory in your eyes, as we joined our harmonics in unity~!" She sang softly, turning to look at Devin with an encouraging look as she smiled at him.

Devin rolled his eyes and sighed as he shook his head, knowing that he'd lose yet another argument against the woman.

Silver-tongued devil, that one is.

"… as we embraced each other for the first time in so long, and I remembered my promises that I made to you, as I had every intention of finally fulfilling them through and through." He droned on, his head hitting the bed as Kasumi stopped spinning and frowned at him.

"Come on, you can do better than that!"

"I'd rather fuck a rampaging berserker with absolutely zero restraints on her end." Came Devin's immediate response to the woman's demand.

He'd shoot either that damned radio she had going on, or her omni-tool. Hell, he may just shoot himself; saving his soul from having to deal with the torture that the woman is putting him through.

All Kasumi could do was pout at the man's response.

"It isn't _that_ bad."

"It is: I don't know who the hell thought that this new shit was music, because there's sure as hell aren't any orchestral instruments."

Kasumi rolled her eyes at the man, spinning around once more as Chakwas came back into the room and stared at the woman with her eyebrow raised.

"Excuse me, ma'am, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave the room; I'm going to have to run another checkup on Carmine-" She is interrupted by Devin clearing his throat, gaining the woman's attention.

"Ma'am, please just call me Devin; my oldest brother went by Carmine, and so did my father."

She nodded at his request, bringing her omni-tool up and activates her scanner as Kasumi hopped up from her chair.

"-_Devin_, as it will involve me scanning the entirety of his body." Chakwas finished, watching as Kasumi shrugged and leapt up from her seat and waved goodbye to the man as she exited the room.

Chakwas rolled her eyes at the display, walking over to the window and pulling the blinds over the entirety of the surface, gaining a shout of protest from the woman who was trying to spy on them.

She merely shook her head at the action before going back to Devin, seeing that the man had pulled his cover off and was waiting for her to get done with her checkup.

Eyeing the scars that adorned most of his chest, arms, legs, and even a small part of his head (as she usually does), Chakwas knew it wasn't any of her business to ask about them, but with her experience in the Alliance medical corps, she knew that scars of his caliber would be traumatic at best, and debilitating at worst.

"I'm sorry Devin, but I just have to ask: where did those scars come from? Most of them look as if an animal had gotten ahold of you and mauled you."

Devin sighed at the question, looking down at his body and seeing the old scars that littered it, before answering the woman.

"Most of them _were_ from animals, doc. The long, serrated gashes were from wretch… wretched _things_ that mercenaries, slavers, and pirates used to assault us. And those who weren't shredded and practically eaten were then shot at. The small, circular scars are from bullet wounds and the rest are a combination of fire, explosives, electricity, though it was a single time thing, and not only that but…" Devin trailed off, looking at his shoulder as he seen the scar that was caused from a locust wielding a lancer that almost sawed him in half.

He could still feel the pain from that wound, every time he looked at it, he was taken back nearly nine years ago, a year after the Locust War started.

He could still see Towns shoving him out of the way, before he himself was the one who was sawed in half.

Devin quickly shook his head to get himself out of his stupor, looking up and seeing that Chakwas was looking at him with worry in her eyes.

"Are you okay, Devin? You spaced out for a moment there, when you took a look at that scar on your shoulder." She asks, noticing how he went quiet for a moment when he stared at the scar.

"I'm fine doc, it's just… just a bad memory."

"Do you mind talking about it?"

Devin sighs as he begins his tale, telling the woman to run her scans while he informs her on what happened and how he had gained that scar.

"Well, I had been in the military for roughly three years at this point when I got the scar. I was a private first class at the time, and I was on a team with three other people: it was me, Private Wilson, Specialist Towns, and finally Sergeant Tupper. We had been ordered to hold back an attack from pirate forces as the nonessential crew and civilians evacuated the ship. I think it was the Stockholm? I don't remember, but in the middle of it, we had been boarded and pirate forces were flooding inside in waves; sending in several members at a time before sending more. It had been roughly an hour of holding them all back, thankfully we all had modified our M7 lancers to fire longer without overheating and with the ability to shoot those old phasic rounds, the ones that would pass through the shield and cause damage to the person behind it. Then, in a moment when the fighting was dulled, we had been ambushed from behind: the fuckers breached from the upper level and dropped in from behind us and one of them had a saw with them. He… he targeted me first and brought the improvised weapon down on me and activated it. Tore straight through my armor and my collar bone, but before any more progress was made, Towns shoved me out of the way and took the saw himself… He gave his life to save mine. Anyways, every now and then, I get caught up in that memory when I look at the scar. It doesn't bother me anymore, not like it used to." Devin finished recounting his tale about how he had gotten the scar, though he changed it to fit more accurately with this universe.

Chakwas finished her scans and went to her terminal, humming in thought as she shook her head at the man's story.

"Why was there a saw on a ship?"

"It was for hull maintenance, why it was on an upper level instead of the hangar bay, I don't know."

"I'm sorry about what happened to your friend; he sounds like he was a good man."

Devin nodded at that, knowing that the man was an amazing person, and an even better father.

"That was where the idea for my lancer came from, you know? Tried getting the chainsaw to be incorporated onto my old M7, but with how the rifle was made out of ceramics and plastics with an ammo block inside of it, it couldn't be done. So, I had an old friend of mine make it to where a rifle could have one of these on it, but sacrificed the compact design, unlimited ammo, and fragile materials. But that's a story for another time, let's get off this subject doc: anything interesting show up in those scans of yours?"

Chakwas looked back at the terminal, telling him that his internal injuries were healed up nicely, but he should watch himself for the next few days and if shown that he could move around without issue, she would allow him to be back on the ground team tomorrow.

"That parasite that is in your system appears to be dying off, albeit slowly. It could be much worse, though: over a hundred years ago, during the American and Vietnamese incursion, soldiers who were in the wet and jungle environment would come home and have parasites within them that would lay in dormancy for years at a time, sometimes even a decade or two, before they showed up. But this is good: your body is slowly passing it and it seems to be working its way out of your system. As for everything else, you're a little bit malnourished, but that's on my part for keeping you on a small diet of salads with pieces of meat." Chakwas tells him, turning to see the man holding his arms across his chest as he pouted.

"I'm not a rabbit, I need meat."

"Oh you'll be fine, so stop complaining."

Upon the doors opening up, the two of them turns to look at Tulma as she entered the room with whatever she was going to say dying in her throat as she looked at Devin with wide eyes.

Devin immediately brightened up at the sight of the woman.

"Tulma! Thank god you're here; the mad scientist over there kept trying to force me to do things against my will! She tried forcing me to eat a _salad_!" He tells her, shuddering at the thought of eating a meal that was so unmanly he could feel the hairs on his chest disappearing one by one.

"Young lady, as you can see, we are in the middle of-"

"I'm covered doc, no need to smite her on the spot." Devin interrupts, laughing as the woman shook her head in response before going back to her terminal.

With Tulma entering the room, she sat down beside Devin and looked at his exposed chest then to his face that held a grin, but it turned to a small amount of concern as he lifted his hand and brought up the back of it against the top of her head and the side of her face as he looked her over.

"You okay there, Tulma? You're getting blue around the face. Are you not feeling well?" He asks her, looking concerned as she pulled away from his hand and shook her head.

"I- I'm fine. No need to worry about me." She hastily replied, clearing her throat as she brought her three-fingered hand up to her mouth and coughed before returning her gaze back to him.

She thanked the spirits that he didn't hear the sudden increase of pitch in her subharmonics; if he understood what that meant, she'd have died right then and there from embarrassment. That, and she's sure as hell that one of her old information contacts would've laughed at her. That woman could be insufferable at times, but she was a good friend, nonetheless.

"How are you feeling? Are you able to get up and go out and about, maybe get off the ship to see what the port has to offer, as you humans would say?"

Devin looked over to the supreme overlord who guarded the gateway to freedom, watching as the woman stared back at the both of them and waved her hand at them, telling them that he was able to get up and leave, but he just wasn't allowed on the ground team for the time being.

Hearing that he was finally free from his prison, Devin silently rejoiced, thanking the Allfathers, god, and Tulma for setting him free.

"I'll see if I can't get your clothes for you, while you wait for Doctor Chakwas to release you. See you in a minute." She says, standing up and exiting the room as Chakwas watched her exit.

She'll have to talk to her sometime in the future about certain turian aspects and how to either capitalize on them, or how to hide them better. Whichever one she wanted.

* * *

Devin couldn't believe his eyes; this place was stunningly beautiful. The colors of the horizon showed up as several shades of red, orange and little bit of pink, all blended together and formed the evening sky that he was now looking at.

"Something catch your eye?" Tulma asks him, watching as the man looked around with a look of wonder as he stared out at the horizon and the port that they had found themselves in.

"It's beautiful, to say the least. Here, let me take a picture of this." Devin said, activating his omni-tool and bringing it up and turning his back to the scenery.

Before he took the picture however, Devin had dragged Tulma into the picture and put his arm around the woman's shoulder as he brought her into frame.

"Smile at the camera!" He says, waiting for a moment before taking the picture and inspecting it, nodding in satisfaction at it as Tulma's face was flushed yet again.

"And that's going to be both my background image and my screensaver. Come on Tulma, we've got much more of this place to see!" He tells the woman, continuing on as she stayed in place for a second longer before coming back to her senses and catches up to the man.

Today is going to be interesting, that much was obvious.

* * *

"There you two are! Man, I've been looking all over the ship and the port for you two!" Came a voice from behind them, with Devin and Tulma turning to see Justin standing there in his modified Eclipse armor smiling at the two of them. Modified as in the colors had been removed and replaced with a deep blue with a purple undertone finish.

All in all, it looked nothing like the Eclipse armor that the man was wearing the other day. Mainly because of the color pallet and the shine that coated the armor. And, for some reason, it suited the man perfectly.

The bartender, unknowingly to the three of them, shook her head at the sight, muttering to herself about another idiot in her bar.

"Hey, Justin was it? What brings you here?" Tulma asks him, turning around in her stool to look at the man as she took a drink from her glass.

"Well, as you know I've been helping Jacob and Mordin with some of the upgrades that goes on the team's armors and weapons. As such, I've finished upgrading your Wolverine claws-"

"My what?"

"Nightshade wrist blades; it's another name for what I call those, because of an old… nevermind. Anyways, they should now be able to channel your biotics through them alongside the poison, further increasing their lethality! I'm still working on a couple of other things, but those are completely finished and ready to be used. I even gave them my own seal of approval." Justin explains, smiling at the look that the woman was giving him when he finished.

"Damn… I knew that it'd be a stretch to upgrade them any further than what I had them at already, but you surpassed my expectations. Where and how did you get the idea to implement that into my wrist blades?"

"Well, that Justicar, Samara, obviously had experience with a lot of combat and weapons so I went to her and had asked for her help. Not only that, I showed her a video of asari commandos using those swords that could channel their biotic abilities which furthered their damage. After explaining to her that I was wanting to know how it could be incorporated into your claws, she came with me to the armory and helped show me how the asari were able to accomplish that feat and even explained on how it worked. I'd tell you more about how it went, but I've been sworn to secrecy and threatened with death by the entirety of the Justicar Order, if I ever leaked any of those secrets." He explained, his face never losing its smile as Devin stared at the man in slight confusion.

Not everyday you meet a man who still smiled at the thought of being threatened with death… well, maybe except for Grunt; he'd laugh as you told him that threat.

Justin then turned his attention to Devin, asking the man if he'd let him do some upgrades to his weapons and armor.

Devin was reluctant to let him do so and almost immediately refused his offer, but from what he seen when Tulma was informed about the upgrades done to her blades, he'll let him have a single chance to prove himself.

"I'll let you tinker with my gnasher shotgun and longshot sniper rifle, and if you do well with them, I'll let you finish with the rest of my equipment. Deal?"

"You got it boss. I seen that you use those old ballistic weapons, and I already have a few ideas on what to do with them… Anyways, that's all I wanted to say so I'll let you get back to drinking with your lady friend. Cíao." Justin said before either of the two could stop him, leaving as they both sputtered and stuttered on their words before they both groaned in unison.

After that fiasco was over, and the both of them now controlling themselves, the two of them pays for their drinks and gives the matriarch a tip, for her tips and advice that she had been given the two of them.

Before they could leave the bar, however, she had one last thing to say to the two of them.

"Listen kids, I know I'm not your boss or your mother, but if you're going to fuck each other, use some trenoderamine; that stuff makes sex with levo and dextro races even better. Take care and try not to put each other in the hospital." She said, making Tulma's eyes go wide and her mandibles to flair open in shock and Devin's face to freeze in a look of pure, unadulterated confusion, simply staring at the woman as both of their faces blushed from embarrassment.

They needed to get out of there before anything else happens at their expense. That was, until Devin heard something between an asari and a quarrian, something that made his blood boil and his mind forget about the embarrassment that he had experienced just moments prior.

Slavery.

"Excuse me Tulma; I'll be out in just a moment, so you can go ahead and wait outside for me while I take care of something." Devin told her, and as much as she wanted to argue, it'd probably be best if she'd wait outside; from the look on his face, he wasn't happy in the slightest.

Then, he took a step in the pair's direction…

* * *

"Sorry about that, had to settle something that had gotten my attention involving two asari and a quarrian." Devin told her, walking beside Tulma as they strolled down the flight of stairs.

"What happened?"

"Nothing to worry about, just got a quarian out of a bad deal is all."

Tulma hummed in thought at that, not deciding to push the subject any further and instead walked with him in silence.

With them out of the bar and in another commerce area of the space port, the two of them decided to look around and see what the vendors had to offer: Tulma, with her familial background and the money she saved up, she had enough to spend here and still have enough for retirement.

Devin, on the other hand, only had the credits that he had acquired from his time on Omega and from Cerberus paying him. He was wealthy, but not rich like Tulma was.

"See anything that catches your eye?" He asked her, noticing that she was staring at a selection screen that had turian writing all over it. All he could understand from it were the pictures of fish that had the strange writing beside it.

"Yeah," she said, zooming on one fish in particular, "I know you can't read this, but it's the Palaven Bluefish, it comes from the coves of Anexia on Palaven. It's also where I was born." She told him, staring at the fish with a look that Devin recognized all too well: a look of someone reminiscing about home.

Without a word, Devin activated his omni-tool and swiped it across the screen, purchasing the fish as Tulma stared in shock at what had just happened.

"What did you do?! Devin, that fish costs more than sixty thousand credits, and you just bought it without thinking!" She exclaimed, looking the man in the eyes as she held a look of disbelief and shock.

Devin just shrugged at her, before explaining why he did what he did.

"Tulma, I could see the look that you had on your face and in your eyes; that was a look of you remembering home and desperately trying to restrain yourself from making a wasteful purchase, in your mind. If I could, I would desperately give everything that I own, including my life, to have something from home with me here. Something except weapons and armor and a picture that's fifteen years old. Please, just accept the fish and keep it so that you can have your own slice of home with you at all times." Devin told her, taking the bag from the clerk that contained the fish that he had just purchased for her.

Tulma stood in shock yet again, but her heart swelled in happiness and sadness at the reasoning he gave her. So, with care, she reached out and took the bag from him and leaned in close to give him a small kiss, or the turian equivalent, on his cheek then smiled at him.

"Th… thank you Devin, this means everything to me. I'll see if I can't get you something."

Devin's face was flushed red as he rubbed the spot that she kissed him with one hand and waved the other hand at her, telling her that it wasn't necessary and that he'd do it regardless of any sort of payment or not.

Upon Devin walking to a nearby vendor, Tulma heard laughter coming from behind her and turned to investigate the source, only to stop when she sees who it was that was laughing.

"Damn Tulma, didn't think you'd have it in you to kiss a man of his stature, much less a _human_ of his stature." The voice said, laughing once more as Tulma shook her head at the remark.

"Laugh it up Vetra, at least I'm bold enough to try it. Besides, look what he paid for!" She tells her friend, who was now named Vetra, gesturing to the fish that was just recently bought for her.

"Damn, a Palaven Blue eh? That's not cheap you know, especially this far from Palaven. Besides, who is tall, large, and strong over there? Your boyfriend? I noticed that your subharmonics are… well I noticed they're softer in pitch and drags out for a bit, when you talk to him." Vetra asks her stuttering friend, pointing at the human who received her affection and the one who is making her like this.

Tulma explained exactly who Devin is and how they met, not only that but she also explained how he had gained her romantic interest, and a bit about his personality as well.

And Vetra was soaking the information up like a sponge in water, commenting about certain bits of information whenever she felt the need to do so, and allowed her friend to finish explaining everything there was about the man she loved.

And Vetra couldn't blame her either: if someone did half of those things and cared for her and her family as he did, she'd probably develop an interest in the man herself.

"Sounds like he's a good person and an amazing friend. So, did you… you know."

"Know what?"

"Did you sleep with him yet?"

"NO!"

"Can't blame you there; it looks like he'd tear you in half."

"VETRA!"

Devin, while browsing through the kiosk, heard Tulma say something and looked up at her, seeing that both she and another turian were looking at him and waving, before shrugging and going back to his business. That was, until he heard the sounds of a krogan saying sappy love poems to an obviously embarrassed asari. Poor girl looks as if she's at her wits end, so Devin decided to see if there was anything he could do to help settle the situation, because she looked like she needed the help.

"Excuse me miss, is that krogan over there bothering you?" Devin asks the woman, watching as she turns to look at him, before saying something rude to him.

"I… I'm sorry you didn't deserve that. It's just, well we're on a break right now and his stupid love poems are driving me insane!" She tells him, clearly frustrated at what was happening.

"Want me to take care of him?"

"What? Oh no, no I don't want you to hurt him! You probably could hurt him, if you tried, but Char is a sweetheart; he'd never hurt anything, and I know I'm talking about a krogan, but he's very kind and gentle." She tells him, immediately not wanting the man to solve the problem with violence for fear that the very large, muscular, and scarred human would hurt her lover.

"Alright, can you explain to me why you're on a break then?"

She tells him that she and Char are dating and had been for a while, but Char started talking about having children which threw her off. She wasn't sure if it was because of the Genophage nearly sterilizing his species, or if it's because he's wanting to cement their relationship.

"I mean, I love the man, I love him to death. But… I don't know if I want to have children yet. He's a great person with an amazing personality, but is he father material?"

"Tell you what, if you trust and love him as much as you say you do, why not talk to him about it? See if you two can come to an understanding and a decision that you two can make on common and equal ground. If you don't trust him, then you already know the answer to the question." Devin tells her, causing the asari to open her mouth to say something but pauses before anything could come out.

She turns around and looks at the man whose hearts she captured and softly smiles at him, nodding more to herself than the suggestion that Devin gave her.

"Okay, you're right; I do love the man and I trust him with my future. Thank you human, you've been a great help for both me and Char." She tells him, hugging the man in thanks before going to the krogan to resolve their issues together, so that they can stay together.

"So, what are you two lovely ladies talking about?" Devin asks Tulma, watching as the other turian gave a sideways glance at her as Tulma rolled her eyes at her.

"I'm talking with an old friend of mine; you know catching up with each other. Devin, this is Vetra Nyx, Vetra, this is Devin Carmine. Vetra and I go back a few years, we met when I was trying to get a shipment of Thraxonin to my mother earlier than what was scheduled; she was able to get it there three weeks sooner than originally planned." Tulma explains, introducing her friend as Vetra nodded her head in greetings.

"Pleasure to meet you, ma'am. Thanks for taking care of her mother; now I know a stranger like me shouldn't really thank you for doing that, but if it means a lot to Tulma then who am I to not thank you?"

"No need for the thanks, Devin; she looked ready to kill someone over that shipment and I didn't want a bloodbath right outside the hatch. So, Tulma here has been telling me all about you; said that you were a good friend and that she thinks the world of you."

"Yeah, I hope she hasn't said anything too revealing or embarrassing about me."

"Only the dirty secrets, no worries."

The three of them shared a laugh at that, simply enjoying each other's company as they called down.

Tulma had asked Vetra about why she's at the port and Vetra had explained that she was gathering materials for a project that was top secret. When Tulma had sked, Vetra had informed them it was called the Andromeda Initiative and that over a hundred thousand people were leaving the galaxy to begin a new life.

Devin whistled at that, knowing that such a trek would be a one-way ticket with no hope of ever going back to the Milky Way. Tulma merely stated that it was a bold move for whoever was going, knowing that they'd leave everything behind.

Vetra had offered them to go along with her, but the two of them declined, stating that they were happy here and that they were already on an important mission that was needing to be done to save the galaxy.

"That's a shame; it'd have been nice to have you come along with us, Tulma. You and Devin here."

"I know Vetra, but this is home. I've got too many friends and family here." Tulma responded, smiling sadly at her friend as Vetra nodded at her answer.

"How about a picture and vid to remember you by? You know, six hundred years into the future when you're both long dead and gone?"

"I'd like that." Devin says, activating his omni-tool as Vetra nods and does the same.

"And starting… now."

* * *

"It's been good seeing you again Vetra; tell Sid I said hello!" Tulma calls out to the leaving turian.

"Will do Tulma! And it was nice meeting you too, Devin!" She responds, waving goodbye to the duo as she leaves, knowing that they would never see each other again for the rest of their lives.

"Let's go Devin; we're probably going to need to head back to the Normandy sooner or later." She says, walking away as Devin follows closely behind with a smile on his face.

It had been nice to see and meet a friend of Tulma's: she looked as if she knew how to get what she wanted, and that she cared for her friends and family dearly. Any friend of Tulma's was a friend of his.

With them now headed back to the Normandy, the two of them sees Miranda speaking with a woman that looked exactly like her, just younger. With Devin spotting Shepard and Tyler in the background, he and Tulma walks up to the man and asks him about what's going on with Miranda.

"Well, that woman she's talking to is her younger sister; this is the first time that her sister, Oriana, has met her and it looks as if the two are getting along. Not only that, but Tyler, I know she won't come out and say it, but she's thankful that you pulled Nicket to safety when you did; I'm pretty sure that he'd have been a mangled corpse, if that shot connected." Shepard explains to him, looking at Tyler as he said the last part which in turn causes Tyler to shrug.

"Eh, I can see that the man meant a lot to her, and even though he betrayed her for very good reasons, it'd have hurt her even more if he was killed. That, and I'm sure I gave the guy a concussion when I pulled him to safety." Saying that last part caused Shepard to shrug, knowing that he still had good intentions for what he did.

"Well, at least you get that dinner date with her the next time we're on the Citadel."

"About time too."

Finishing that statement, Miranda comes back to the group with a smile on her face as she and the rest of them leaves, but not before Miranda turns around to get one last look at her sister who was smiling back and waving at her alongside with her family.

Seeing this caused tears to form in her eyes as she smiled again and waved back at her, before leaving with Shepard and the others as they headed back to the Normandy.

Today was a good day for all of them: Devin and Tulma went out to see what the port had to offer, met some people, bought some drinks and a pet, solved a couple of disputes, and enjoyed each other's time together. Miranda finally revealed herself to her sister, and in turn caused her to finally be committed to both the mission and Shepard's cause, with her mood improving significantly. Tyler had finally gotten the dinner date with Miranda that he'd been asking for, and all it took was helping her out and saving a friend of hers. Shepard was glad that his crew were happy and rejuvenated, knowing that it'd be a while before any of them would experience this again.

All in all, today was a good day for the five of them.

* * *

"Excuse me, Onyx, would you mind talking with me in my office?" Miranda asked the man, looking at him as Devin looked up from his plate before shrugging and nodding at her request.

"Sure, let me finish my plate here first, then I'll meet you in a couple of minutes." He tells her, with Miranda thanking him before leaving.

"Wonder what she wants." Jacob comments, finishing his food as Devin shrugs and stands up and takes his plate to the sink as he washes it.

"Food was good Gardner, keep it up."

"Mhmm, now I'm going back work."

"Hey Miranda, you wanted to talk to me?" Devin asks the woman, seeing that she had her terminal turned off and her omni-tool activated as she waved it across the room.

Upon finishing her motions, she sits back down and motions for Devin to take the seat across from her, which he does so and leans back in it to get comfortable.

"Yes, you may be wondering what I just did. I deactivated any bugs that were in my room here and on my terminal, that way we can speak in private. Onyx… I'm sorry for treating you the way I did when we first met and a little after that. It was unprofessional of me and it took any sort of trust that we could've had and ruined it. Another reason why I'm sorry is that I've been trying to get scans of your armor and weapons without you noticing but I stopped myself from doing so because of the fact that they're ballistic weapons and that your armor is too encumbersome for anyone with a smaller physique and strength requirements." She tells him, looking the man in the eyes and showing him that she meant every word of her apology.

Devin just laughs at the response which confuses Miranda, and even causes a small bit of anger to swell up within the woman, but she refrained from saying anything as Devin held up a hand.

Once he calmed himself down, Devin sighs as he looks back at her with a smile on his face.

"There's no hard feelings ma'am, trust me. And do you truly feel remorse for your actions?"

"Of course, Onyx."

"Then please, call me Devin. You've come a long way Miranda, and I'll be glad to call you a friend of mine any time. Now, let's get on with work; I'm sure we both have things that we need to finish, don't we?"

Miranda laughed at that, simply smiling at the man as he smiled back, stood up and left the room.

"The people you come in contact with Shepard…" She says to herself, activating her terminal as she shook her head in amusement, before finishing her reports for the day.

First an unknown man with outdated weapons and armor, a turian cabal who's the niece of the Turian Councilor, a Phoenix operative who is the best soldier of his class, and an eccentric young man who was with a mercenary group for pitiful reasons. All of whom weren't even on the original schedule, but had somehow made the team not only more enjoyable to be on, but more diverse and effective than the original statistics that were brought to her when she first boarded the Normandy.

The original percentage of their mission being a success was a chilling seventeen percent, and that was with everyone recruited, but not committed, and the Normandy not upgraded. With everyone committed and the ship upgraded, that percentage went up to forty-seven percent.

But, with the addition of the four new and unexpected recruits with their skills and abilities, if they were to be fully committed to the mission, the percentage would jump up to seventy percent, and with Justin working in tandem with both Jacob and Mordin, that number would continue to rise. Especially if his upgrades worked well.

All in all, she's glad that Shepard put her in her place a couple of months ago, when Devin boarded the ship; if she'd have known that he and the others would've been this big of a help, she'd have slap herself right in the mouth. Not only that, but with them nearing their goal for recruits and missions sent to them from the Illusive Man, everyone was wanting Shepard to help them resolve any personal issues that they may or may not have yet.

From EDI's information gathering, Thane was looking for his son, Mordin needed to rescue an old student of his, Jacob wanted to investigate the ship that his father was on when it crashed, Jack wanted to go to Pragia, Garrus was looking for the man who got his team killed, Kasumi was wanting to retrieve something from Donovan Hock, Zaeed was wanting to kill his old acquaintance, Vito, Samara was looking for some fugitive.

She wasn't sure what Devin, Justin, Tyler, Tulma and Grunt needed to be done, but she was sure that they'd show up sooner than later. But when or where that would be, she didn't know. But what she did know is that they would go to Shepard for help, or Kelly Chambers would inform him about them needing to speak with him.

Miranda sighs as she looks out of the window, watching as they fly past Illium and headed for the fueling station that was set up near the relay for those who needed fuel and/or probes. And knowing that Shepard enjoys exploring planets and sending down resource probes, she was almost certain that the man was going on yet another planet probing extravaganza. She already heard that he was wanting to probe Uranus, all because of a childish joke about the planet's name.

* * *

**That wraps up this chapter! Next chapter is yet another loyalty mission, but for who will remain to be seen. The Shadow Broker dlc missions will come soon (before the assault on the collector ship but after a couple of missions) and those will probably be a three part chapter series.**

**A little more character and relationship development here, and the addition of Vetra will surely spice things up for the later chapters of A Rookie and the Machine. You'll see.**

**See you all next week, and I hope you all have a great week!**


	17. Return of the Prodigal Son

**Hello again everyone! Sorry about not updating yesterday, and the reason for that is simple: I don't have a reason. Yep, I was lazy yesterday and completely forgot about this until a few hours ago, and because of that, I got off my lazy ass and finished editing the chapter and am now posting it for you all.**

**Like I said, I was lazy. But every once in a while, we all get a little bit lazy, right?**

**Anyways, moving on from that, this chapter is for Jacob's loyalty mission, and (in my opinion) it's the shortest mission in the game: I'm talking you can speed run this mission if you choose to skip all the dialog in a little over fifteen minutes. And in ME, that's short. As such is the case, this chapter is relatively short as well, though I tried to make it longer by adding extra scenes, dialog, and even a post mission event to get the word count close to 5k. Other than that, not much else to say. So... Review Time?**

**Review Time:**

**Blaze: Yes, and how that scene plays out will be somewhat heartbreaking.**

**Connor: We're all a little kid inside, and at times that kid likes to come out and make decisions for us.**

**Captain: Honestly, you're not too far off from what I was thinking about various biotics from other species. Not only that, seeing a five foot something quarian seemingly vibrating in place as biotic energy encompasses them would be quite unnerving. Like, very unnerving.**

**That's all for the reviews and as always, I hope that you all enjoy the chapter and I'll see you all next time.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter Seventeen: Return of the Prodigal Son**

"Wait, wait, wait; you want _me_ to go on a mission with _you_? Dude, that'd be awesome!" Justin exclaimed, pumping his fist in the air as Shepard just rolled his eyes playfully.

It was refreshing to have someone like him around: not too many people who were cheerful and lively on the ship, besides Kasumi, and optimistic about the current state of affairs.

He reminded Shepard of Jenkins when they were headed to Eden Prime for the first time.

"Yes, you haven't been on the ground team yet and if we want to have the greatest possible chance of success, you need to go with us on a few missions." Shepard explained, watching the man vigorously typing away on his omni-tool before going back to his turret and working on it some more.

Shepard asked him about what he was doing, only for Justin to step back and inspect the turret once more and go right back to working on it, before answering the man's question.

"I'm adding a grenade launcher to this thing, you know so that it could fire explosive, tear gas, flashbangs, stun grenades, lift grenades, and so on. Been meaning to get this this done for a while now, but I never had the time and the resources available to actually get it finished. So… thanks for the resources."

"Not a problem, and two more things: do you have those upgrades done for armor and why is there a crossbow on my omni-tool?"

"To answer your second question first, crossbows are cool, and add in the fact that they're already modded to be armor piercing, you can add onto that by making disruptive, cryogenic, incendiary, or even phasic. Secondly, your adrenaline module has been retrofitted to not take as much energy to function, it puts less of a strain on your body, and you can even stay in it for almost a solid six seconds straight. Currently, I'm working on Mr. Carmine's weapons, his shotgun and his sniper rifle to be exact, and so far all I have done is getting the lever on his shotgun to have frictionless materials built into it, a tighter spread on its choke, and a comfort grip that gives him better control of his weapon handling.

As for his sniper rifle, I've got a muzzle break put on it, a threaded barrel to change out the barrel mods for either a suppressor or the muzzle break I mentioned, and I'm adding a ton of recoil compensators to it so that if one of us were to fire it, it wouldn't delete our shoulders. I may try to find a way to make it fire from a magazine as well, but that'd require me to completely overhaul and rebuild the receiver and the bolt carrier. All in all, I'm satisfied with what I've got done here." Justin explained, showing Shepard the weapons in question as the man nodding in response.

Both him and Jacob were definitely invaluable assets to have, one for being the quartermaster and the other upgrading their gear beyond what they could do at the moment.

That reminds him, Shepard told Justin that he is going with them to find Jacob's father, a man who was lost on the Hugo Gernsback when it made planet fall ten years ago.

Justin was more than excited to see his upgrades in action, and Shepard was willing to let the young man do exactly just that.

"What do you need me to do and where do you need me to go?" He asked, his face set in determination as Shepard smiles at him and rolls his eyes.

"Grab your gear and meet us down in the hangar bay in… twenty minutes; that way, Jacob can have enough time to get his things and meet us down there. Afterwards, we'll take the Kodiak down to the surface and we'll plan from there, with Jacob practically leading the mission. Remember, we're doing this for him; what he says, goes. Am I clear?"

"Like Heisenberg's crystal meth, sir."

At seeing the look Shepard gave him, Justin had to clarify what he meant, telling the man about an old 21st century series and a man making arguably the purist, clearest meth anyone could make at the time.

Shepard just shook his head at his response.

"Let's just go."

* * *

"Huh, I wouldn't mind being stranded on this planet: nice beaches, plenty of shade and sun, the beautiful sunset with two moons! Ahh… breathtaking." Justin says, throwing his arms out and taking in the scenery that the group found themselves in.

Jacob took a look around his surroundings, his face set in a grim look as he stares at the remnants of a crashed transport vessel that has definitely seen better days.

"I have run several scans of the ship, and have detected no lifeforms aboard. However, there may be useful technologies and information held inside. Caution is advised: the interior of the ship has degraded heavily and its superstructure is weakened to the point where exploration is ill advised." EDI tells them, Shepard looking at Jacob in silent questioning as the walk along the path.

"They could have survived the impact, but it has been years since then, but they'd have set up a beacon by then. Let's go and check it out for a little bit." Jacob tells them, walking along a makeshift bridge that led to the inside of the ship, with Shepard and Justin in tow.

Justin had collected any recordings and data logs and had begun decrypting and/or restoring them while Shepard and Jacob spoke to each other about they found and what to do next.

When they finished and exited, Justin activated a VI that was low on power via putting energy into its processors and thus it caused the VI to spring to life.

"… caution: local flora is not compatible with human DNA. Toxicity alert: danger of rapid neural decay. Local flora is chemically incompatible with human physiology. Beacon resumed. Pause time: eight years, 237 days, seven hours." It droned on before it shut back off, its systems completely drained of any energy that it once had.

"Dammit," Justin cursed, hitting the side of the machine as he shook his head at Shepard, "it's not coming back on any more. It's done for, Commander."

"Let's move on then, nothing else that we can learn from it."

"It said that the beacon was turned off over eight years ago; why would they turn it off and not wait for help to arrive?" Jacob questioned, looking back at the ship and the plants that inhabit the area.

"Maybe it was because of the plants? The VI did say that they caused neural decay… But if it wasn't the plants, then why wait nine years to send for help?" He says out loud, more to himself than either Shepard or Justin.

Shepard shrugged at the response, knowing that his reasoning isn't farfetched and that if they've been here for a decade and the VI did say that they shut off the beacon roughly a year after they crashed, which is more than enough time to eat the plants and degenerate their brains.

With that done, they move forward and onto an outcropping that has a few crates and boxes on it, all of which had to have been from the ship.

Oh, and there was a woman who was running away from a group of men armed with guns, all of whom were shooting at her.

Now this wouldn't do at all, and as such is generally the case when a gunfight erupts, Shepard and the others opens fire at the deranged gunmen, and with them having no armor and outdated weapons, it was easy for the group of armed and trained soldiers to dispatch the rogue group of men rather easily.

Before speaking with the woman who was now peaking at them from behind a crate, Shepard noticed that Jacob's suit looks as if it had been upgraded. As such, he asked the man about it.

"Yeah this thing? Justin here helped me put more padding and armored plates on and in it, giving it a higher damage threshold. Now it's not hard suit levels of protection and resistances, but it does qualify as a form of light armor now, so that's a plus." Jacob told him, with Justin nodding at what Shepard had been told and Shepard looked at him with appraisal at his accomplishments.

"Well done Justin, I might let you work on some of my weapons in the future as well; but that has to wait at a later time, for now we have to deal with the people here."

"You came? From the sky? The leader said that someone would come! He delayed for so long, but he still has power! Some has lost faith; the hunters, they would have seen your star! They will not allow you to help the leader." The woman told them, her voice filled with awe and wonder before turning to mild disdain and resentment, but her sentences being spoken in broken English.

The three shared a look and nodded, each of them silently agreeing that she must've been affected by the neural decay that ingesting the hazardous flora caused.

Shepard had asked the woman about what she was talking about and that she wasn't making any sense, but was then informed that she doesn't remember anything properly and that they served the leader so that everyone could go home, but there were some who didn't want that and chose to fight back. They had failed and were ultimately casted out, as punishment.

"At least we saved her from getting domed; that guy was definitely going to renovate the interior and exterior of her skull with his-"

"We get it Justin."

"Sorry Commander."

With them now leaving the woman behind, the group follows the path that the so-called _'hunters_' came from and found a mech stripped for parts and left out in the open to gather rust and dust, but aside from that, they also found a type of settlement with people going about their daily lives.

Jacob pushed forward, telling Shepard that he needed to speak with someone who could make sense and that he needed answers for what happened here.

With them approaching the settlement, the three of them slowly gains the attention of everyone present; some of them running out of sight, others whispering things to each other, and a few who looked resentful for whatever reason. But all of that would be answered soon, Jacob was sure that he was going to see to that.

"Notice how they have the same type of uniforms as the group who attacked us? They seem… friendlier? Docile? I don't know, but they aren't attacking us, so that's a plus." Justin said, pointing out the suits and lack of aggressive behavior that they had faced already, and Shepard had to agree with his assessment: they do appear to be more docile than the group that they met with.

"Notice how they're all women? What if the neural decay affects females differently than males? I mean, it would make sense, considering what we've seen already." Shepard said, adding onto Justin's theory as the two of them stood in silence as Jacob approached the woman who stood up to, for a lack of better words, greet him and the others.

One pf the women takes a step back as she gazed at Jacob, raising a hand and pointing at the man as she and the others gave him their complete and undivided attention.

"You… you have his face! He promised us help, and that he would call the sky! But he never did. He sends for nothing." She tells him, her observations being shared by the others who were there.

Then the other woman spoke up.

"He forced us to eat… decay. You are cursed with his face!" She accuses him, angrily pointing her finger at the man as she sneered at him.

All Jacob could do was look stunned and confused: not only were they implying that his father was responsible for them being in this state, but he had the power to send for help but didn't. This was troubling to the man, but now that he was here, he wanted to help these people before he got finished with his personal issues.

"That's… not the best reaction to family resemblance, Jacob."

"Why would my father force his crew to eat toxic food? Whatever is happening here needs to stop, and we're going to be doing just that, Commander."

With him finishing that statement, the group of misfits decides to investigate around the settlement, seeing if they can find anything of use.

They found old and spoiled food stores, outdated gear and equipment, and Shepard caught Justin gathering samples of the plant life and storing it in a secure container, but not before going over them with his omni-tool. When he done so, he could only shake his head in disappointment and sympathy.

"What do you have there?" Shepard asked him, watching as Justin finished storing the plants and going over his omni-tool once more before answering his question.

"No wonder they're experiencing neural decay, Commander; the whole biosphere of this planet has nothing but dextro written all over it. I'm talking written, patented, signed, and emblazoned all over the place. These people are lucky they didn't croak when they ate this stuff." He tells him, watching as Shepard's eyes go wide at the new information that he was informed about.

But Justin wasn't done.

"Not only that, but with how adaptable humans are, I'm not surprised in the slightest to see that their bodies have adjusted to eating nothing but dextro foods. Ahh… good ol' human adaptability and genetics… SUCK IT XENOS! But in all seriousness sir, it'll take a while for these people to revert their bodies back to eating and processing levo food again; how long that will take, I don't know." Justin finishes, standing up and looking at the survivors with pity as Shepard stood silent and processed the information that he had been told.

These people really had been through hell, that much was obvious.

The time for pity was over when three mechs came around a bend and began firing at them, telling them that weapons were forbidden and that they needed to be obedient to the leader.

Shepard could only roll his eyes at the cheesy one-liners that they were droning out.

* * *

When they had dispatched the mechs, their comms sprang to life, the voice of a middle-aged man was heard as he contacted through what appears to be a worn out communicator.

"Thank god you've come to rescue us! I've had to keep them busy, distracted if you will, but recently it's been getting dangerous; they're losing their minds and are starting to attack everything that they see as a threat, and not only that, but they'll see me as one eventually." He tells them, his wording and excuses getting to Jacob as he grits his teeth at what they had heard.

"He'd had his and now he wants out of it? Son of a bitch; probably thinking that we'll try and rescue him and get him off this planet."

"We'll have plenty of time to talk to the man Jacob; but we'll need to get past all the security that they have set up first."

Jacob nodded his head as he sent out a throw on a simple LOKI mech, sending the machine careening into the wall as Shepard fired at it with his rifle, effectively removing the degraded mech from the fight.

With one down and roughly six more to go, Shepard looked at Justin and seen that the man was firing incineration and cryo blasts at anything that weren't in cover and were in range, while he finished them off with a burst from his rifle. While doing this, they had began to take fire from the people who went insane, all of whom were spouting obscenities about how they wouldn't get to the leader and that they would be killed for their transgressions against the settlement.

Shepard put an extra hole in this man's head as he finished his last sentence, cycling in another thermal into his rifle as he shook his head disapprovingly.

"Is it just me or is there really not that many men here to defend their leader?" Justin asks, and Shepard agreed with his observations, telling him that a lot of people must've been outcasted over time, and as a result, it left fewer and fewer people to stay and defend the place. Hence the usage of more mechs than actual manpower.

"Make sense I suppose, but it seems as if we've only been here for about thirty or forty minutes. What gives?"

"Small settlement, or groups of settlements that are all built from salvage from the ship and that fact that they're all concentrated in a two-mile radius somewhat adds to the reasoning on why we shouldn't be here for more than hour, at the absolute most. But this man is not my father: my father wouldn't just send men out to die just so that he can cover his own ass and this man is definitely _not_ my father." He tells him, clearly angry at the events that have transpired prior to them arriving and during their rescue.

"Oh."

"Hey Justin, we've got an YMIR here; mind handling it for us?" Shepard called out to the man, with Justin looking back to him and giving a thumbs up as he grabs the small container off of his back and opens it up before deploying his pride and joy.

With him typing away at his omni-tool, Justin's face never lost its smile as he began whispering sweet words to his inanimate child.

"That's it baby, make daddy proud!" He exclaims, finishing his command input as his turret activates and unleashes scorched earth upon the mech.

Shepard and Jacob could only sit back and watch as the small sentry absolutely shredded the mech apart, seeing that it was cycling through different ammo types on its own and firing high-explosive, impact grenades at the thing as its main gun was spitting out sand grain sized death at a blistering speed.

The YMIR, in its last few seconds of life, sent out one last missile at the turret, with the three humans watching as the missile struck the weapon of minor(ish) destruction.

Jacob had thought that was the end of the machine, until the smoke clears and he sees that it looked as if it was relatively unharmed.

"What the hell?" Is all that he could muster, with Shepard laughing at the display and sheer absurdity of a sentry gun that was only a foot tall, weighed no more than twenty pounds, took on a half-ton, heavily armed and armored mech that had the combat effectiveness of half a dozen men.

"I've always known that the mark two was lightyears ahead of what we've got now, but seeing it in action is a whole other ball game." Shepard says, walking up to the now cheering Justin as he deactivated his turret and held it tight as he laughed.

"That's my Boomer! Took on an YMIR all by yourself and won! Daddy's proud of you, big guy!"

"Uh Justin, we _do_ have a mission to complete, you know?"

"Oh shit, I'm sorry guys. Kinda got a little bit excited there." He said, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment as Shepard could only roll his eyes and amusement while Jacob shook his head in good fun.

"Let's go everyone, we've got a tyrant to confront."

"Aye aye captain!"

With that out of the way, the three of them steps over the bit and pieces of debris leftover from the many mechs that now littered the ground alongside the bodies of all the men that were protecting Jacob's father.

A bunch of men with little to no armor, outdated weapons, no shield systems, and barely any form of organized security that could actually withstand an assault from a small force of armed people.

With the small force of under-armed guards and near-malfunctioning security mechs dealt with, Shepard, Jacob and Justin holstered their weapons and whatever other gear they had and entered the closed off area that all of the leaders of the settlement either lived in or slept in. And from the looks of the place, as Jacob had assessed, it also seems as if they had all of the food and drinks stored there as well.

"It's time to confront this _Ronald Taylor_ for ourselves Commander." Jacob tells them, anger clearly lacing both his features and his tone as he activates the door controls and heads on in with Justin and Shepard both looking at each other with slight apprehension.

"You don't… you don't think that he's gonna shoot him, do you?" Justin asks him, looking back ahead at Jacob as he storms up to the balcony where his father is waiting for them.

"Honestly Justin, I don't know; Mr. Taylor has done plenty of terrible things to these people for most of the past decade. I'm not going to condone any violence here, but I will say that any harm that may or may not come to his father will be perfectly well-deserved." He answers, walking alongside Justin as they catch up to Jacob as he was screaming at his father for all of the atrocities that he's committed over the last decade.

"Jacob? No, no not Jacob." Ronald says, denying the fact that his own son was here to confront him about what he had been doing to his crew for years now.

"Why not me?! Would ten years look better to anyone else in the galaxy?" Jacob demanded, shoving his finger into his father's chest as he raised his voice to accentuate his emotions.

"You have to understand Jacob; the realities of command, they change you, and that change was something that I wasn't ready for. This isn't me. I made sure that you were taught right, before I left… I had hoped to just leave it at that, even if I was never going to see you again."

Shepard had intervened at the last comment, telling that he wasn't unreasonable but why did he have to wait ten years before deploying the beacon and why he let things escalate this far into madness.

"God dammit! Why did you let this happen to your crew? You took an oath and swore to protect them!"

Justin tapped Shepard on the shoulder, pointing at the entrance of the enclosure and showing the man that they were beginning to grow an audience in the form of the curious and mentally deficient (**mean to say but it's the truth, considering their neural decay**).

"There was resistance to the plan, mutiny if you will, and we had to take a hard line to keep the order around here. And things settled down and as the decay set in, we made sure that they were comfortable. And for a while, some seemed happier than before. Ignorance is bliss right? And they were grateful for guidance, like… an instinct. Pure authority was… was easy at first. As months passed and we settled down here, inhibitions began to lower: name and rank no longer meant anything, they got territorial. After a while, we had to establish dominance, and the perks seemed normal, at the time." He explained, not bothering to turn around and face the people that he's wronged for many years, all he could do was hear their murmuring and feel their gazes on his back.

"That's it? You built a harem and lived a juvenile's wet dream and all you can say is that you had no other choice?" Jacob angrily accused the man, his eyes narrowing in contempt.

When questioned about the other officers who were with him, the shortage of supplies, what he had planned to do, and why he didn't leave sooner, Ronald had explained that the other officers had either mutinied or were dead and that the shortage of supplies when going to one man could last a long while. Not only that, but he knew that the time would come when all of this had to end and the fact that he had taught Jacob everything he needed to know was good enough for him to get started in life.

Basically, as Justin put it, the killed all opposition, hoarded supplies for himself, planned to join the crew with their mental problems, and that he wasn't thinking about going back home and seeing Jacob at all.

Ronald had, more or less, agreed with his simplification of why he did what he did.

"We can help these people get off-world; Cerberus has ships that can be here in days and pull everyone out." Shepard tells Jacob, watching with apathy as he pulled his gun out and pointed it at the man who stood before him.

"He's not worth the fuel to haul him out or the air he's breathing! And he's damn lucky that I don't even think he's worth the effort to pull the trigger and drop him dead!" He screams but lowers his pistol after a moment of steadying his breathing.

With one last look of resentment, Jacob turns around and leaves, with Justin following closely behind him as Shepard stayed back to talk to the some more.

"We're going to secure you in an Alliance Court; for every year that you abused, tortured, enslaved, and punished people here, you'll have ten to think about it." He tells him, walking past the small group of spectators as Ronald stood his ground and waited for any official to arrive and take him in custody.

It's a lot less than what he truly deserves.

* * *

"You doing okay Jacob? You seem to take that encounter to heart." Shepard asked the man, watching as he sat on a table with his hands clasped together and seemingly in thought.

"I'm fine Shepard, it's just… I spent ten years thinking that my father was a good man and that he died in service. But what we found down there… what we found was quite possibly the worst-case scenario for this mission. I didn't mean to drag you and Justin into this mess, but I really do appreciate the time that you all took to come and help me resolve this issue. I'll be here for the mission and I'll make sure to give it my all Commander; on that, I can assure you." He responds, standing up to give the man a handshake as Shepard accepted it and returned his smile.

"You're a part of my crew Jacob, and more importantly you're my friend. If you need anything else, just give me a call, okay?"

"You got it Shepard."

With that interaction out of the way, Shepard leaves the armory and shortly after Justin comes in, looking at him warily and asking if he's okay.

"I'm fine man, no need to worry about me or what happened at all."

"Well that's cool, because me and a few others, namely Zaeed, Devin, Garrus, Tulma, Kasumi, and Jack are looking for another man to join us for a game of Skylian Five… wanna join? We got drinks and food ready and waiting." He asks, pointing his thumb behind him as Jacob only laughed at his question briefly before answering him.

"Sure, why the hell not? Need something to do anyways; get my mind off things and it doesn't hurt the fact that a nice cold beer and a plate of hot nachos would definitely help… There will be nachos, right?"

"Damn straight!"

"If that's the case then, lead the way."

With the two of them now exiting the armory, they both take the elevator down to the recreational room, and inside is everyone waiting for them, a bar set up with both drinks and food stuffs waiting to be consumed.

Jacob smiled at the scene, looking at how everyone was laughing and joking around with each other, sharing stories from their lives, and overall just enjoying themselves. He may not have seen them like this when they first started this mission, or when they became new recruits, but now that he's been with most of them for the better part of a few months now, he sees them all as his extended family.

Because, even if they are complete and total strangers, he knows that each and every last one of them will have his back when the time came for it. And that with that thought in mind, he would have theirs as well because that's what family does for each other; family has each other's backs, whenever they want it, and whenever they need it.

"Hey Jacob, you just gonna stand there and stare at us or are you going to come over here and join us?" Devin calls out, waving the man over and gesturing to an empty seat right beside him, which Jacob gladly accepts without a word of complaint or issue.

They're his family now, and he'll be damned if anyone harms his family.

* * *

**And that does it for this chapter. I hope that you all enjoyed it and that I continue to put out chapters that you all enjoy.**

**Like I said before, this mission is honestly the shortest one in the game, and as much as it pains me to say, this chapter is short as well. But for next chapter, I have something special planned. I hope that you all will like it and that it is accepted by you all. But, there's always someone that may not like it. I'm not worried about it at all, however, everyone has their own beliefs and ideologies. As such, you are free to believe what you want, and no matter what, you have that right to believe that.**

**See you all next week and I hope that you all have a wonderful week as well!**


	18. Demon Hunting and Homely Surprises

**Hello everyone, I hope you all had a great week and I'm back here with another chapter ready for you all to read, review (optional), like (also optional), and enjoy ( also optional). Since this week, in America, is Thanksgiving, next chapter will be out the week after next; simply as a means of getting everything here at home cleaned up, looking nice, and all the food being cooked for not only my family, but my dad's side of the family as well. Not my mom's, mainly because we're going over there to eat after we get done eating at my place here.**

**A lot of food is going to be cooked.**

**Anyways, moving on from that, this chapter is the last chapter before we go and experience the assault on the collector ship. Afterwards, I'm thinking of doing Garrus' loyalty mission for chapter twenty. Should I? If so, then I have something planned for that one. Something special...**

**Anyways, this is Samara's loyalty mission and quite a few things has been changed, some good, others I'm not sure. But, since I've wrote it, I'm sticking with it. Expect something pretty cool at the end of the chapter, and here's your only hint:**

**Last OC of the story.**

**Review Time:**

**Blaze: I already told you in a PM, but for those who don't know, it'll be explained at the beginning of the chapter.**

**Captain: You got it right on the dot there, congrats! Yeah, if you think about, the VI explains that the food made from local flora isn't able to be processed, filtered, or cooked into something edible. After all that time, it would make sense if the crew crashed on a dextro world that would not only benefit the quarians as another food source, but research as to why humanity lost the ability to digest a simple sugar. That sugar being dextrose. Fun fact for those who don't know: dextrose is a simple sugar that the human body can digest, and as such is the case, we today can eat it and not die via liquefication of every organ. In ME, the human's in that universe has pushed this trait out from their bodies and as a result, they get sick from eating the food. Kinda stupid, but not much we can do.**

**With that out of the way, I hope you all have great weeks and that I'll see you all next time.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter Eighteen: Demon Hunting and Homely Surprises**

"Commander, it seems as if Samara wants to speak with you; I think she's found what she's looking for." Shepard was informed by Kelly, the ginger haired woman looking at the man as he was reading from his command terminal.

"This soon? She's only been with us for a week, two at the very most." Shepard comments, turning his head as he looked at the woman his eyebrow raised.

"Justicars are, from I've gathered and learned from the extranet, extremely talented and resourceful individuals; and with her experience, age, and the resources she has, I'm surprised that she didn't find her target sooner."

Shepard could only hum in thought at the comment: Samara was indeed a very resourceful individual and the fact that he did give her the name of the ship that her target escaped on, and with her spending all of her time meditating and finding information, and what Kelly said was true when he thought of that.

"Well, I'll go and speak with her immediately."

"One more thing Commander; Mordin would like to speak with you as well about the situation on the survivors from the Hugo Gernsback."

Shepard nodded his head, altering his path from the elevator to the laboratory so that he could talk with Mordin.

Upon entering the room, he sees the salarian muttering to himself as he went back and forth between a terminal, his lab equipment, and a drink of something that looks to be coffee.

As if the man needed it, considering his biology and all that.

"Hey Mordin, Kelly said that you wanted to see me about your progress on that research?" He asked the man, watching as Mordin finished his drink and then nodded as he set it down on the table.

"Correct. Found that plants are dextro in nature. Humans a levo species, can see why ingestion would be a problem. Startlingly, but expectedly, human bodies adapted to consumption of local florae. Nearly two hundred years ago, human bodies and digestive systems could handle dextro products, as your body seen it as a simple sugar. However, over time, your body adapted and pushed this trait out from your genetics. Interesting evolutionary trait, but saddening that it isn't with your kind anymore. Would've been… exhilarating to study. Moving on from that, their systems seems to have been able to eat a blend of the two proteins with some side effects, of course: slight indigestion, headaches, cramps, vomiting, diarrhea, and as with the case we have right now, neural decay." Mordin rattled off, grabbing a data pad and quickly reading through the information listed before handing it to Shepard.

When Shepard had read through it, he could only nod at what he had read, seeing that both Chakwas and Mordin had been researching nonstop to finding if they could make a form of vaccine or treatment that would help speed their recovery process up.

And they did.

"Was able to find a way to make a form of vaccine that should help bolster their immune system's response to treatments. Not only that, but was able to formulate a treatment process that will reduce their recovery time with little to no loss of performance."

"Great work Mordin; I'll be sure to pass this along to Anderson. I'm sure that he knows someone who would be able to use these for their intended purpose." Shepard praised, patting the salarian on the back as Mordin nodded his head.

"It was fun. No need for thanks; learned new things about humans while doing so and that was a bonus for me. Anyways, must get back to work. Trying to find something of great importance to me." Mordin told him, turning around and began working on his terminal as Shepard left the room and was finally able to take the elevator down to see Samara.

He wonders where her mission will take him.

* * *

"What in the hell is an _Ardat-Yakshi_?"

"A term from a dead asari dialect, meaning _'demon of the night winds.'_ But that is just mythology. She is a very dangerous woman who kills without mercy."

"So what, they're some kind of special murderer?" Shepard guessed, looking at the woman as she merely nodded at his assumption.

"In a sense. Morinth suffers from a rare genetic disorder; when she mates with any individual, there is no gentle melding of nervous systems. She simply overpowers yours, burns it out, hemorrhages your brain. By the end, you'll be a mindless shell and soon after you're dead." She explains, almost as if she's reading from a biology book with pictures and graphs included.

When questioned about the origins of the ardat-yakshi, Samara had informed them about how in ancient literature and art, they were depicted as goddesses of destruction, but now in modern times they're not known to the general public; but there are three that she knows of, two of whom were living in seclusion and the third ran.

That third one is Morinth.

And then Samara explained even more about these fabled killers, about how the more they kill the more they need to do it; almost as if the feeling was narcotic. And if they are diagnosed with this disease, they are given an ultimatum: live in seclusion or die.

An ultimatum that Shepard had some concerns with, understandably, but he also understood why Samara needed to do this.

"I can see why this has your full attention."

"She confuses her victim, twists their feelings, and in the end, they'll do everything they can just to please her."

"We'll stop immediately." Shepard told her, turning around to head to the CIC to inform Joker to head for Omega so that they could resolve this issue as soon as possible.

Until he was stopped.

"One more thing Commander: this creature, this monster… is my daughter. I understand your concern, your face says it all. Yes, Morinth is my daughter and I have two more. Three of the ardat-yakshi exist today and I have three daughters… and yes Commander; it is exactly what it sounds." She tells him, her voice remaining calm but when Shepard looked into her eyes, he seen that she was in pain.

Goes to show that even a battle-hardened warrior with centuries of experience has their weaknesses.

"I can't imagine what this is like for you."

She pulls away from him, telling him that she doesn't want pity nor platitudes and that she will accept none of it. Her daughter is her responsibility and, in her death, lies Samara's redemption.

Shepard could only nod at her request, telling her that they'll head for Omega immediately, before turning around and leaving.

If this woman is truly as dangerous as Samara makes her out to be, he'll need a heavy hitter.

One that was itching to get back into the fight.

* * *

"Ahh Omega, my home for nearly four months… God I wish this place was razed to the ground by a Hammer of Dawn… or all of them." Devin said to himself, stepping through the entrance as he fell in line with Shepard and Samara as they both headed into the club.

Of all the times that he's passed it by, he's never once been in there.

He remembers everything that happened in this front area: the stolen shuttle that he crashed, the scrapes and scratches that now litter the spot where he crashed, kicking the shuttle as he screamed obscenities at it, carrying Tulma and Glaz as he ran for Mordin's clinic, glancing at Shepard, Jacob, and Miranda for a brief moment, and the neon lights that makes up the sign of Afterlife.

He can still hear and see everything that happened that day.

"You okay Devin? You're spacing out on us." Shepard asked him, causing the man to shake his head as he looked back at Shepard.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. It's just…"

"What happened back then?"

"Yeah. I'm fine Commander; all that's in the past now and everyone made it out okay."

With that said, the three of them enters the club, hearing and seeing the sights and sounds of debauchery scattered throughout the place: alcohol, drugs, dancers, music, and even a few cases of public indecency between two parties. And that was only scratching the surface.

Shepard had told the both of them to wait as he spoke with Aria, stating that he's practically the only person allowed to do so on a daily basis and whenever he wants, which was honestly fine by the two of them since Devin had no interest in speaking with the queen of whores and Samara would probably just kill her right where she sat.

Woman probably had the skills and firepower to take on everyone at once. And still come out on top.

"I've seen you wondering throughout the ship. You seem… lost but familiar with it. Would you care to explain?" Came the question from out of the blue (**pun intended**) from Samara, causing Devin to look at the woman with his eyebrow raised.

"The Normandy is easily the most advanced ship in the galaxy: nothing really competes with her in speed, stealth, and maybe even firepower wise. So yeah, I guess I would seem a bit lost inside of it, even though it's a familiar ship." Devin answered carefully, his instincts telling him to not leak anything about himself to the woman.

"Yes, I suppose so. You are an enigma, Mr. carmine, and there are very few things in this galaxy that I have seen and experienced in my long life that captures both my attention and my curiosity: the geth uprising, the drell being rescued from their homeworld, humanity fighting and winning against the might of the turian military, human ingenuity and adaptability, and you. Never before have I seen a human of your size, strength, combat prowess, armor, and weaponry before. Tell me, Mr. Carmine, what are you keeping secret from those who are aboard the ship and your squad mates?"

Fuck.

Devin was backed into a proverbial corner: this woman had been watching him, learning his behaviors and mannerisms, gathering everything she could about him and analyzing any pattern that she could find so that she could confront him with.

And she did.

Devin had no idea on how to react to such a forward and blunt question, especially if it's coming from a woman who has been fighting and killing longer than his family's past twelve ancestors combined, but he knew that he had to answer with something because not answering her question would lead to her being even more alert about his every move.

Hell, she might even watch him sleep and bathe.

So, after swallowing the lump in his throat, he calmly looks at the woman and breathes in.

"Ma'am… I've been fighting for a long, long time against the enemy of my people; a broad term, yes, but a truthful one. I have fought, killed, maimed, torn, shredded, blew up, and shot anything that stood between me and my goal: survival. I'm not proud of some of the things that I have done, and I'm sure that you can say the same, but even then, I still wouldn't hesitate to do them all over again. I gave my future, my home, my family, and even my life all to the cause of fighting the enemy. I have seen so much death and destruction that if I were a lesser man, I might've either killed myself or go into a complete and total mental breakdown. I carry the secrets of my past with me, but I'll never forget them; because if I would, then no one would be left to remember them and history may be doomed to repeat itself yet again."

Samara looked into his eyes (or rather, the ports where they would be) and only nodded, accepting his answer as she stepped back.

"You have wisdom in your words; the secrets you keep are staying with you, because of the damage they would cause if they were let out or discovered. I understand that very well… Thank you for telling me, Mr. Carmine, I look forward to speaking with you whenever we have the time."

"Please, call me Devin, and I'd be honored to speak with a woman of your status as well, Samara."

With that settled, they both waited for Shepard to get back from his talks with Aria, neither of them saying a word or uttering a sound until Shepard came down and looked to Samara.

"We've got a lead: a woman named Dianna. Supposedly her daughter was the latest victim of Morinth's and that she can be found near the entrance of the old plague district. Fortunately for us, Devin and I knows where we can find her, as we've been to the district before. Without further ado, we've got a grieving mother to speak with." Shepard tells them, walking past the two as Devin and Samara fell in line behind the man as he led them out of Afterlife and into one of the side entrances to the slums that surrounds the club.

"Down this way," Shepard points out to his right at a hallway that led to where Mordin's clinic is, as they enter through an airlock with a batarian preaching at a crowd who were willing to hear the man.

When they walked through a door, they were met with a sad sight: a woman quietly crying to herself as she had her head on a table and a few empty bottles of alcohol strewn about the floor.

Devin's seen this sight plenty of times before, especially when he was with his sergeant as they were at the home's of fallen gears to present them their medals and cog tags.

He didn't like this feeling.

At the sound of her door opening up, the woman, who the three guessed was Diana, looked up at them and stood up to greet them, wiping herself off as she wanted to see what guests wanted.

"Are you here about my daughter? My… my baby girl, Nef, died a week ago and no one seems to care about it. The doctors, they said that it was a brain hemorrhage that killed her, but I know that's not true; I know it was murder. Someone killed Nef, and all that they could find was a brain hemorrhage?" She told them, holding back anymore sobs as she waited for what the three of them had to say.

Shepard's heart was going out to the woman; he knew what it was like to lose family and no one believing his mother about it being murder.

He hopes to god that the turian that killed his father was still rotting behind bars; he was the man who put him there in the first place, after all. And he could only find the information after he became a Spectre.

The look on the bastard's face when Shepard told him who he was, showed him his Spectre credentials, and all the evidence he had was pure, unadulterated bliss.

Maybe then Jane and his mom was sleeping well.

"I understand exactly how you feel ma'am, I truly do. I believe your daughter was murdered as well and I'm looking for her killer."

The woman was more than happy to see that someone was with her on this, standing back up and thanking the man repeatedly as she told him how hard it was to go on knowing that no one else believed her.

She stopped as she looked at the man and his cohorts, seeing exactly how well armed and armored they were, before asking him if he was with Aria, or at the very least, one of her people.

Shepard only told that he was there to help her and that who he was with didn't matter and that was that mattered.

"No one else but a single other person on this damned station cares that my Nef is dead, but if you can do something about it, then I'll help you all as much as I possibly can. Maybe you will run into Relic; he's the only other person who cares."

"Relic?"

"Another vigilante, don't know where he came from but he uses old ballistic caliber weapons and even an explosive crossbow." She explained, making Shepard and Samara raise an eyebrow at the usage of old weapons and even a bow type weapon, but that last part caught Devin's attention immediately.

"How long has this Relic guy been here?"

"Some time after Archangel and his group were killed off. I don't know when though exactly, but he's been looking for Nef's killer as well."

Shepard nodded at the information, going over it within his mind as he began asking questions about what kind of person her daughter was, who were her friends, and where they she hung out most often.

Diana explained that she had a fire within her and that she was shy, creative, and driven and was most importantly the best daughter a woman could hope for. After Samara had asked her to explain on her creativity, Diana told them that Nef was a sculptor and that there were several galleries interested in her work.

When the subject of friends came up. She had explained that Nef didn't have many since she was shy, but that all changed a couple of weeks ago when she met an asari by the name of Morinth, which caught Samara's attention. She then told them about how Morinth would drag her out to clubs and that she was sure that she gave her drugs.

"I didn't like her, especially after I seen what was happening to my daughter. That asari was trouble, I knew that much, but I didn't that she would lead to my Nef getting…" She trailed off, not wanting to say the last word out loud again, and Shepard caught onto this and decided to ask about Morinth.

"What type of person was this Morinth?"

I never met the woman, but Nef spoke about her as if she was a queen," she scoffed out, rolling her eyes at the thought, "You'd swear that there was no one else alive when she spoke about her."

"That sounds familiar." Samara told Shepard, and from what the woman they had been told about Morinth thus far, he was more than inclined to believe that assumption.

Shepard then asked Samara if Morinth controls people by using drugs, to which she shook her head no; telling him that those are just a lifestyle, and instead controls them by using sheer will alone.

"She loves clubs, the bass, the setting, and all the interesting characters that you meet inside of them. All in all, she's a hedonist."

Devin could only snort at that last remark, knowing that wasn't meant to be used in a derogatory way, nor as an insult; it was simply a description.

"So this Morinth… she's the who did this to my daughter?"

"I will bring justice not only to your daughter, but to the one who did this, I give you my oath as a justicar."

Devin and Shepard gave the woman their word as well, knowing that when Samara gave her word, she was going to do everything in her power to fulfill that word.

Even if it meant giving her life.

Shepard asked her if there were any hangouts or clubs that Nef frequented, especially since she met Morinth.

"She was always quiet while working here at home, either sculpting or sitting in her room. Then, a few weeks ago, she started going out all the time to the VIP area of the club down the street; I think you need a password to enter it, or something. The change was so sudden… odd even, and she just seemed so distracted and tired when she wasn't with Morinth." She explained, looking around the room and staring at a few picture frames that was with her and her daughter.

Devin nudged Shepard's arm, causing the man to look over at him and tilt his head in silent questioning.

"I know that this isn't the best of time, but we need to search the girl's room for any evidence. And I know what you're thinking, but we need any evidence that we can get so that we can find this bitch and kill her." He told him, and as much a Shepard didn't like it, he knew that the man had a point.

And then he asked Diana if they could see the room, and then she started to cry as she told them that everything was left the same as it was when Nef went out the last time and didn't come home.

Devin merely pushes the two people out of the way and gave the woman a hug, knowing exactly what the woman is feeling since he himself has lost his family, and when he done so, he began rocking back and forth while patting her back in consolation.

After letting go, she wiped her eyes with the tissue that he had offered her, thanking him for what he did and tried to explain her actions.

"Don't be sorry ma'am; you have nothing to be sorry about, it's okay. Shepard, you and Samara here can go ahead and search Nef's room, I'll be here talking to Diana and see if I can't figure anything else out." He told them, receiving zero complaints from either of two individuals as they entered the room.

Upon taking a seat with the woman, Devin removed his helmet and sat it down on the table in front of him, before he began his questions.

"Ma'am, I understand that this is going to be painful to you, but I need you to tell me the description about this Morinth woman, okay? And on top of that, tell me about this Relic guy as well."

"Morinth is an asari and seems to be in her matron years at most, she wears a skintight black bodysuit with laces and buckles on it. I never met the woman, but I do have a photo of her," she tells him, bringing up her omni-tool as she sends the photo to him, before continuing, "she looks like the type of woman who gets in trouble just for the thrill of it. Ever since Nef started hanging out with her, I knew something bad was going to happen. But what I didn't expect was her to…"

"Thank you for the photo, I'm sure my commander and the justicar would very much appreciate this. Now, what about this Relic guy?"

"Relic? Well, he's a new vigilante that showed up after Archangel's group was killed off, but it must've been a week or two after him disrupting activities across all of Omega when he started making a name for himself. He uses old ballistic rounds to fight the various gangs here on Omega, that and that crossbow I was telling you about. I don't know why a crossbow, of all things, but he also has these damned mechs that are… interesting to look at."

Devin was going over everything within his mind about what he had been informed about, all the way from the ballistic weapons to the crossbow and then the mechs. He's not sure if the crossbow was a torque bow or not, and there were several gun enthusiasts out in the galaxy that has the time and money to use the old system of weapons and the toque bow was more of a mechanical compound bow than a crossbow. As for the mechs, he's not sure: the only mech that he knows of are the silverback exosuits, and that requires a person to operate them.

He is interrupted from his thoughts when the woman pulls his head from the side and causes him to look into her eyes.

"Yes?" He asked her, not understanding her reasoning for doing that.

"You were there… you were the one who was with Archangel as he and the others were helping us escape to safety all those months ago." She said, after taking a moment to look at his armor, helmet, and even his weapons before looking back at him again.

"If you're alive then…"

"Archangel is alive as well, don't worry."

Diana could only nod and smile at the information.

With that said, Shepard and Samara came back out of the room and caught both of their attention, especially after Shepard motioned for Devin to stand up.

"We've found what we were looking for; we'll need to go to that club and tell the bouncer the pass phrase, if we want to get in. So, did you find anything out while you were out here?"

"Yeah, got a photo of the suspect here." Devin told them, activating his omni-tool and showing the two of them the photo in question, to which Samara nodded.

"That is indeed Morinth. Let's go, this is the closest I've been to catching her in centuries." Samara tells them, walking out of the home with Shepard and Devin following closely behind her as they go to the club that was mentioned in Nef's journal entries.

* * *

"What do you want?" The bouncer asked the three of them harshly, getting off the wall that he was leaning on.

Shepard, being the smooth operator that he is, didn't say anything hostile to the man, instead only telling him that someone named Jaruut told them that this place was nothing like everywhere else on Omega.

The bouncer only nodded his head, saying that Jaruut sounds like a smart person and then let the three of them in without any more fuss or say so.

Smooth operator Shepard: 1.

Bouncer: 0.

Once inside, the three of them stops as Samara turned around to speak with her two companions.

"Devin, I understand what I am asking will be too much for what we came here to do, but I need you to go in there and find Morinth for us. Shepard and I came to an agreement that he is too much of a figure of importance to the galaxy at large; he's too high profile for her to confront him. But you, on the other hand, are perfect: your size alone is enough to catch her attention, but the way you handle yourself, how you react both on and off the battlefield, and how your compassion is ironclad and unwavering will be enough for her to confront her. She adores those attributes and the more you put yourself out there and separate yourself from your peers, the more likely that she'll confront you. Please… I need to do this, I need you to do this just to help me stop her, here and now." She tells him, almost to the point to where she's pleading with him to follow their plan just so that she can kill her daughter.

Devin could only sigh in response, taking off his helmet and handing it to Shepard as he nodded at Samara, which caused her to smile thankfully at him.

"Just tell me what I need to do and don't do. And I'm going to be wearing my armor for this one, non-negotiable."

Samara wasted no time in telling him the do's and don'ts for luring an ardat-yakshi.

* * *

'_Gotta be strong and confident; any signs of meekness and politeness will get me nowhere.'_ Devin thought to himself, guiding his way through the bustling crowds of people who were dancing, drinking, chatting, or even a combination of the three.

He hated clubs, he still does, and the music that is constantly playing over the speakers are making his head hurt from the sheer pitch and volume of it.

That, and the fact that a drunk turian was currently pestering him wasn't making his situation any easier.

"You wanna go pal? Because… I will send you to the clinic with some serious… injuries."

Devin could only take a deep breath as he looked at the turian.

"Sir, I'm going to say this once: leave me alone and lie down, you're drunk and aren't thinking clearly." He told the man, and it seems to have struck a nerve in the turian because he stood up and knocked his drink over and almost stumbled and fell over on the ground, if not for Devin catching him at the last possible moment.

God, if Clayton was here and he seen him holding a grown ass turian as if he was a baby, he'd been rolling on the ground in laughter.

"Watch it human, I've got…" He never finished his sentence, due to him throwing up all over the ground and right on Devin's boots.

"… got some military experience and-" He didn't get to finish his sentence that time because of Devin grabbing the turian by the collar of his dress and lifting him about a foot or two in the air.

He was going to say something, and possibly slap the man, but was stopped when he heard a woman calling out to him and the man he had within his grip.

"WAIT, wait, wait! Don't hurt him! Lexerian didn't mean anything he said to you, I promise!" Said the voice, causing Devin to turn around and look at a female turian who had her arms up in a placating gesture, hoping to stop any violence that may start at any moment.

"My husband can't handle his alcohol well right now; he just had surgery a month ago and they had to fix his liver and set it back in place properly. Please, don't hurt him; I'm sorry if he's said anything that wronged you, or if he hit you." She told him, and from the look on her face and in her eyes, she was telling the truth and that made Devin sigh in acceptance.

He lowered the man to the ground and held him steady, waiting for him to stop swaying before turning to the woman.

"It's fine ma'am, the most I was going to do was maybe slap him a couple of times, but I wasn't going to hurt him any worse than what he will be in the morning. Get him home and get him a nice cold glass of water; he'll need it." He told her, watching as she nodded gratefully at him as she grabbed her husband and left.

Now what was he going to do about the stuff on his boots?

He is brought from his musings when he felt a man shaking his arm, asking him if he could help him with a small problem.

"Huh? Say that again?"

"I… I uh need help right now, and I don't know who to turn to and ask. You're human, you don't look high, and you're wearing heavy combat armor, so you're it. Can you help me out?" He asks him, leading him over to one of the booths as Devin crossed his arms.

"Slow down and tell me what the problem is first, then I'll decide from there."

"Right, right, I'm sorry… My friend Moirall is doing a piece on Omega gangs. She's hanging with Florit, basically the worst of the worst." He explains, looking around the bar in order to find his friend, before stopping and looking back at Devin.

"What is she, some sort of investigator or reporter?" Devin asked, understanding the terminology about someone doing a piece on a subject or a group of people is called a piece.

"Yeah and Florit is onto her. His gang is on his way here and they're going to make a mess of her, if they get a hold of her. I have to get a message to her, and fast."

Devin didn't feel like going over anything with the man, so he told him about what he needs to do in order to get her to safety.

"She and I have a code and if you say these two words to her, she'll understand what you're trying to say and get out of there. The two words are _"terminal"_ and _"eternity"_. Especially in that order. Please, if you don't do this, she's going to die."

Devin only shrugged at that, telling him that he'll work those words into a sentence when he gets to Florit, much to the appreciation of the young man.

Upon finding the woman sitting with Florit, Devin popped his neck and cleared his throat loudly, catching the attention of the two people sitting down.

"What's your problem?" Florit asked, a frown crossing his features as he stared up at the man.

"Shut it, short stack. Any of you two know what drink that'll hit you at terminal velocity? If I'm getting a hangover, I want something that'll last practically for eternity." He asked the two of them, watching as Moirall's eyes go wide at the use of the two words that she and her friend has.

"Yeah, go to the bar and ask for ryncol; that shit will wreck your insides." Florit tells him, making Devin nod as he looked back to Moirall.

"Hey Forit, I've got pee; I'll be back in a bit." She tells the man abruptly, casting a subtle nod to Devin as she passed by him.

With nothing else to do there, Devin turns around and leaves the area with his newfound information and heads for the bar, intent on buying this drink that he's about.

Upon arriving to the bar, Devin couldn't help but notice just how… bored everyone was: yeah there were people who were dancing, drinking, and enjoying themselves, but they were all bored.

Maybe he can do something about that.

"What'll you have?" The bartender asks him, expertly cleaning a glass as he looks to the newest patron who came up to his bar.

"I want a pint, and yes you heard me right, a pint of ryncol."

Everyone surrounding the bar, including the bartender, went quiet at that; knowing what a drink like that would do to a human, and with a pint of it, it'd probably put this krogan of a man in the morgue.

"Are you sure about that son? Ryncol is some damn strong stuff." The bartender warned, looking the man that sat before him in the eyes as he nodded.

"I'm sure. And let's make it interesting: if I finish this drink in ten seconds, you offer a round of drinks on the house to everyone here. Let me explain: everyone here are good people, but they look bored and you and I both know that bored people don't spend a lot. With me doing this, it'll not only bring people's spirits up, but you'll get a ton of revenue in the process." Devin explained, leaning on the bar as the bartender nodded his head after a moment of thought.

When he was done, he told Devin that this better work and if it does, he may try it once a week.

"Listen up everyone: to show you that we love your business, this man has agreed a guaranteed visit to the clinic by drinking a pint of ryncol in ten seconds flat! That's right, a pint of the strongest krogan liquor available! And if he succeeds, everyone gets a free round of drinks on the house!"

At this proclamation, everyone cheered as the bartender grabbed a pint mug and filled it to the brim with the deep amber brown liquid.

Devin took a look around him and seen that everyone was beginning to chant the word _chug_ as he stared at the alcoholic beverage in anticipation.

Only one thing went through Devin's mind.

'_This is going to be a long night.'_

* * *

With his stomach on fire, everyone cheering, and the bar receiving even more business than it was before, Devin parted his way through the crowd of people and heard their various compliments and pats on his back, he makes his way past a shaded area and was stopped when he sees the woman that he and his cohorts are looking for.

"My name is Morinth, pleasure to meet the most interesting man in this bar. I've been watching you ever since you first came down those steps and I'll tell you what hero; come with me to my booth in the shadows, that way we can talk as much as we want with no one to bother us. Sounds good?" The woman asks, to which Devin could only smile and nod, telling the woman to lead the way.

He hopes that Shepard and Samara were close by.

"Sometimes, when I come here, there's no one interesting to talk to, and some nights there's one. Tonight, it's you. Why is that?" Morinth asked him, leaning back in her seat as she takes a drink from her glass.

"We're both the same: when we both want something; we're going to do whatever it takes to get it. For some it's money, others is power, but to the small few, well I like to believe it's pleasure."

"Oh, I see. Yes, I do take pleasure in the finer things in life. Music, art, travel and everything in between. They make me feel… much more than what I am."

"Art like the elcor Forta's, that's always nice to see. Then again, there aren't that many elcor artists out there to begin with, which makes the experience that much more sublime. Vids like Vaenia are always a treat to watch, especially with how the two lovely actresses play their roles perfectly. And the travel, the places you see and the people you meet are one thing, but what you do while you're there, what you do to those people will always stay with you. But the experiences you have are what makes those places good or bad. And for me? Well, I've enjoyed all the places that I went to so far, and the things I've done with the people there are even more enjoyable. Turians, asari, drell, humans, and even a krogan once are all members of different races and cliques, but each has their own… _special_ traits when you get them alone and beneath you, when they're their most vulnerable. Those are types of experiences that I live for... especially if you get a turian swearing to their spirits." Devin told her, and he could practically see the excitement and lust that was just beneath the woman's eyes when he finished that sentence.

When he finished that sentence, he made sure to keep his charming smile on the entire time, all the while cursing himself at the thoughts that were now plaguing his mind.

"_If Tulma was ever able to find out what I just said and what went through my mind, she'd castrate me, force feed my dick to me, and then biol me alive in a vat of hot oil... and that's only the first minute._"

He just prays that the woman doesn't find out what images that just came into his mind were about, and especially what they contained.

"I think I'll take you here."

What? That wasn't in the plan: he was supposed to go into her apartment and then Samara and Shepard were to come in and save him and kill her.

Easy as that.

Now the woman was straddling his waist, her eyes were pitch black, and her biotics were flaring.

All in all, everything they planned for had just went out the window.

Until something impacted the ground next to them and exploded, sending both Morinth and Devin flying and the club tenants scattering.

"Please make an orderly line and leave the premises immediately: this area is now under fire." Shouted a mech as it and a few others came into the bar and began flipping tables, pushing people away and towards the exit, just as Devin and Morinth stood back up.

"Devin, what the hell is going on in there?!" Shepard screamed through Devin earpiece, causing the man to shake his head as he looked up at Morinth and seen that she was running away from them, but not before getting shot straight through the shoulder and almost hitting the ground.

Stumbling out of the club, Morinth disappeared from sight just as Shepard and Samara came into view and cursed.

Then one of the mechs came to them and looked at Devin.

"COG credentials found! Captain, it's a-" It never finished its sentence just as Samara lifted it into the air and crushed it with her biotics, screaming in rage as she does so.

"We can follow where she went Samara; look, there's a trail of blood leading to where she ran off to. We can follow her to where she's running." Devin told them, and Shepard nodded as he followed the trail with the others close behind.

Only one thing was going through Devin's mind as they ran.

How did that mech know that he was in the COG?

* * *

She needed to get out of there. Everything was going so well too! She had met a new guy who was going to be her most ambitious and amazing undertaking yet, especially with how different, commanding, and even charming the guy was, she was sure that he would've been her greatest target since she started doing this centuries ago.

Then those damned mechs came and ruined everything.

Morinth gasped as her shoulder hit a corner, pain flaring up through her entire body as she looked at the wound and hissed in pain, applying pressure to it as she gritted her teeth and growled.

Whoever shot her is going to pay.

"You there! Get the shuttle prepped and get me off this damned station!" She orders one of the Eclipse sisters that came with her from Illium, pissed that she's not going to see that human again.

She was going to meld with him before taking him over, because those genes of his were one of a kind.

"Yes ma'am. What happened?"

"Damned mechs came in and shot the place up. We need to leave now."

The merc could only nod, turning to get into the shuttle until the heard a whirring noise from somewhere within the warehouse.

"What the hell is that-" The merc couldn't finish her sentence, as a projectile pierced straight through her shields, her armor, and her head which completely removed it and sends purple blood and brain matter everywhere.

Morinth dived into the back of the shuttle and closed the door just in time to stop whatever round that the sniper was firing, seeing that said round impacted the window right where her head was just a second ago. The damned thing sent fractures all throughout the small window, and Morinth took that as a hint to stay away from any and all sources of openings.

Needless to say, she was going to stay within the armored portion of the vehicle, because the cockpit has little to no coverage.

That was, until something started to beat on the shuttle's door. A lot of somthings.

* * *

"You okay there, Devin? That went to hell in there pretty quick." Shepard asked Devin, looking at the man as he held his head in pain.

"Just fucking dandy, that damn bitch was raping me with her mind, and then there's the damned explosive that went off and fucked my eardrums. Fuck me." Devin said, grabbing his helmet and putting it back on when Shepard had offered it to them, when they had a moments rest.

They stopped outside of a warehouse and had entered through a side door, climbing up a ladder and was currently looking down at the warehouse floor seeing the mercs going up against these strange mechs that wouldn't shut up.

"Let's find out if there's an escape shuttle nearby; if Morinth is here, then there'll be one waiting for her. But until then, I say we sneak on by the place and avoid any unnecessary… confrontations." Shepard orders them, receiving nods from both members as they snuck past the firefight between (wo)man and machine that was currently happening below them.

Devin stared at the mechs below, noticing that one of the closer ones has circular symbols on its chest, but he's too far to see what it is.

With Shepard leading the way through the catwalks, the three of them managed to stay quiet enough to where they didn't garner the attention of those beneath them, though there were a few stray shots that landed too close for comfort.

Too close as in Shepard almost screamed as a particularly large round almost hit his family jewels.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine… I don't even want to think about what would've happened if they were…"

The two of them stayed silent, but Samara only raised her an eye (**not going to say brow, considering they don't have hair and whatnot**) at the sight of Shepard holding his groin as he and Devin spoke.

"You wouldn't understand," Shepard started, noticing the look that she was giving him, "having our… member hit is an experience that no man, no matter the species, wants to experience."

"If you say so, Commander."

With that out of the way and behind them, the three of them climbs back down the ladder and skillfully made their way around whoever wasn't fighting outside, avoiding anything that wasn't their original target.

Samara had looked ahead and seen that a shuttle was parked in the back that looked as if several explosives had hit the thing, something tore its way through the door, and had fought off a lot of the opposition that was supposed to stop someone from getting inside the vehicle.

That and the opposition was dead… all of them.

After inspecting the bodies one by one, and even inside the shuttle, Samara came out and shook her head, telling everyone that Morinth wasn't there and that whoever was hunting her, they got to her first.

Shepard was about to say something, until a scream cut him off, causing the group to book it to the source of the scream, which was a few rooms over.

With them now rushing into the room, they see their target lying on the ground in a puddle of her own blood with several bodies lying around her, both of which were the mercs and the mechs that attacked the club.

Devin could now clearly see the emblem emblazoned on the chest of it and that caught his attention immediately.

"You there, in the shadows! Step out immediately or you will be fired upon!" Shepard ordered the figure, with Devin and Samara aiming their rifles at the unknown figure, waiting for the person's next move.

With bated breath, they watched as the person came from the shadows, wielding a weapon that they have never seen before.

Except Devin.

"That is a torque bow…" He muttered to himself, seeing a somewhat familiar armor design of the marine set of armor that was issued years ago.

"Samara, go deal with Morinth; I'll talk with our guest." Devin tells her, causing the woman to look from the man to the woman on the ground who was trying to get away.

While Samara went to deal with her, Shepard was looking between him and Devin, pointing at the two of them as he tried finding his words.

"Devin, why does his armor look something like you'd wear. For that matter, why does it look similar to yours?" Shepard asks the man, noticing that they were both now staring at each other and not moving.

"Probably because he's from where I'm from."

With the unknown man looking Devin in the eyes, he speaks for the first time since they've met him.

"Your armor… that's the old Onyx Guard… You there, what's the _Golden Rule_?" He asks him, lowering his weapon as he waits for Devin to answer.

"Take cover or die." Devin responds immediately, seeing that unknown man lowered his weapon and relaxed a bit at him getting the question right.

With this newfound revelation, Devin wasn't so sure if he was the only person who came here after all.

But with this man standing here in front of him, he knew that was fact.

All that remains was a single question.

"How did you get here?"

* * *

**That wraps up this chapter, and I'd love to thank Blaze for this character, his backstory, and everything in between. Hope this introduction was up to your standards!**

**With the final OC now introduced, the crew receiving yet another crew member, the two powerhouses from the COG are now aboard the Normandy: with that, Devin can finally learn about what happened back home, every single detail, to be exact. What he finds out may or may not please the man, but without him having a way back, there's no point in him being upset for long.**

**I hope you all have a great two weeks and I'll see you all next time!**

**Happy Thanksgiving!**


	19. A Hivemind and its Occupants

**Hello everyone! Glad to be back here with another chapter for you all to read and (maybe idk) enjoy!**

**It's been a great two weeks for me here at home, we had a great time at Thanksgiving, got to enjoy ourselves greatly, the food was good, and the drinks were great. I've got a plan that I'm sure that you all will like: on New Year's Eve and Day, I'll be posting a chapter on each of those days, for a total of two chapters that you can read back to back on one day and the next.**

**Moving on from that, I hope that you all had a great two weeks and that for the rest of the year (and decade, which is mindbogling at the moment for me) and that 2020 will be a great year for all of you! Halo Reach came out with the Halo MCC, for both Xbox and PC and I love how they handled its inception into the game and that, so far, it's received very positive feedback from the community. I understand that not a lot of people liked how 343i treated Halo 5 and its gameplay (I did, please don't send a mob to my house and burn me at the stake), but I'm glad to see that of all game companies out there, they actually took time to give the community what they've been asking for years now. Now, I'm not saying that all game companies don't care about their communities or about fixing their games (I'm looking at you Ubisoft and how you're more geared towards giving For Honor cosmetics and new emotes every couple of weeks instead of doing bug fixes and patches like any sane person would do, but I digress), all I'm saying is that they gave us what we've been waiting for, and for that, I'm thankful for how they handled it.**

**Review Time:**

**Captain: Yeah, you'd think with that damned beacon hiding underneath the statue of athame, that they would find a way to cure, or at the very least treat, the condition that afflicts the Ardat-Yakshi; though I can se them using a type of medicine that lowers the nervous system's activity, not stopping it mind just lowering it, to the point that their nervous system doesn't overpower yours and kills you deader than attempting to defuse a nuke with nothing but a corkscrew, a single sheet of fine grain sandpaper, and a towel. Weird analogy, I know. Samara isn't the only one who's asking questions about Devin, but she was the first to confront him about it and received a response that Devin couldn't fake or bend the truth a little. Shepard can be smooth! His dancing during the Citadel dlc in ME3 charms everyone present. And I received your message and have promptly responded.**

**Blaze: That's right, I do plan on bringing a silverback into the story, but that'd be later on or even in the sequel (spoilers!), and the fight scene will be introduced, but not in this chapter, sorry.**

**That wraps up the reviews and I've got one more announcement before we go on to the chapter: I've decided to ultimately push Garrus' loyalty mission to chapter 21 instead of 20, but not to worry Thane will be there in the next chapter and we get to see the mission through his son's eyes along with what we see in the games.**

**Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter Nineteen: A Hivemind and its Occupants**

Shepard had no idea on how he and a few others could process this information, information on how there was someone else with weapons and armor that were not only considered relics and antiques, but were ones that Devin himself were familiar with.

When he questioned Anderson about a group called the Onyx Guards and how they guarded the chairmen on Earth, Anderson had explained that he no idea on what the man was talking about, telling him that there is no such group active and if there was, then the chairmen were keeping secrets from him. But he did tell him that he would look into the matter himself, when he gets the chance.

That part about the man not knowing anything didn't really bother Shepard as much as it would have; plausible deniability and all that political BS.

But what did bother him was the fact that when he took a few DNA samples from the man and sent them to a lab to be analyzed, absolutely nothing came up in any databases; human and Citadel alike.

In simpler terms, the man doesn't exist.

Because of that fact, the Illusive man had been wanting to speak with Devin, but all that he was met with were some particularly explicit words and gestures, which the Cerberus leader did not appreciate.

Basically, with the addition of someone else who didn't exist, with mechs that were clearly superior to the ones fielded nowadays, didn't help the colossal migraine that was forming within his head.

With a shake of his head and a sigh escaping his lips, Shepard took a look at the now named Jackson Scott, or Jay, as he preferred to be called.

"Who are you, where did you come from, and how do you know Devin here?" He questioned the man, crossing his arms as he looked directly at the seated man in plain clothing.

Jay was leaning back within the chair, nodding at the questions and accusations that were being sent his way, before answering the Commander.

"Well you already know my name, as for where I came from and how I know Carmine there is another story, however. I grew up in the slums of the mega cities on Earth, joined the military first chance I got in order to get away from life in the streets and gangs, and from there I began working as an engineer. My greatest achievement are the mechs that you seen in the bar, one in particular that I treasure most was the one with a riot shield. I call him Cavalry. Anyways, I went to Omega, after a brief scuffle with some pirates, helped a few people escape from said pirates, and started a repair and maintenance shop just to get a few extra credits; supplies aren't cheap, you know? Became a vigilante when I seen just how piss poor the quality of life was on that station, and it reminded me too much of home, so after hearing about Archangel and his group's exploits, I decided to continue that lineage; but for my own reasons, really. As for how I know Mr. Carmine, I don't _know_ him, but I _know of_ him, if he is who I think he is; kinda like how everyone knows of you, but without actually knowing you personally." He answered, reaching in his pockets and pulling out a data pad with a lot of information on it, scrolling through it for a moment as he typed something on it before discarding it.

"Well, what _do_ you know about him?"

"Other than the fact that he's Onyx Guard, absolutely not a damn thing: they don't exist, due to their nature, they are the best of the best, equipped with gear that are either not available to the military, or are better in every way, shape, and form. As for the man personally, if he is who I think he is, then I know he has a couple family members left alive. Other than that, I don't know a damn thing." He told him, shrugging his shoulders as Shepard sighed and stood up from his seat so that he could think on his next questions for the man, but was ultimately interrupted when Joker began speaking to him over the intercom.

"Hey Commander, EDI tells me that we have a priority message coming in directly from our mysterious overlord," he says, scoffing at his own joke at the end before continuing, "in all seriousness though, the Illusive Man would like to speak with you in the debriefing room."

That threw a wrench in his plans, that much Shepard was certain about.

With a heavy sigh, Shepard tells Jay that he is free to go, but that they would continue their questions at a later date, to which the man nods his head and gives him a courteous salute.

What on earth did the Illusive Man want?

* * *

With the elevator doors opening up, Jay walks through them and enters the hangar bay, seeing that Devin was talking with the female turian that currently stood beside him as he was working on something at a workbench.

Strolling up to the man, Jay cleared his throat and gains the attention of the two, with both of them lifting their eyebrow/plate in silent questioning.

"I'd like to speak with you, Mr. Carmine… _in private_." He tells the man, looking at Tulma as Devin nodded his head at his request.

"Sure; go on Tulma, I've been meaning to talk to the man here myself anyways."

"Are you sure? Is it about…?" She trails off, looking at Jay for a moment as Devin nodded.

"Yeah."

With Tulma accepting the request as well, she enters the elevator and takes it up to the one of the upper levels, leaving the two gears by themselves for the first time.

Just as Jay was beginning his questions, Devin stops him with a raise of his hand, telling the man that it wasn't a good idea to say anything out loud due to an AI recording everything that they were doing.

"Can you speak and read Gorasni or Vasgari?"

"Yeah, why are you asking… oh."

With Devin nodding at the conclusion that he had came up with, he motions for him to follow him over to a coffee table and takes a seat, with Jay following after. With them now seated, Devin takes a pen (which he got from Kasumi for a hefty price and piece of his dignity) and begins writing on a notebook (from the same person for the same price).

_[Are you really from Sera?]_

With him done writing this, he flips the book over and slides it to Jay, which the man then took the pen and wrote out his response.

_[Yes; I assume you came here from that strange machine that was in the ruins of Ilima City?]_

_[Ilima City is in ruins? How? The kryll storm happened only a few months ago, but it shouldn't be in ruins that soon. And to answer your question, yes; that machine was a teleporter that uses imulsion and element zero. Some damn scientist named Maynard was the guy who worked on it.]_

Seeing the response that he got, Jay hummed to himself for a moment, his pen tapping the side of his head as he thought of his answers and a follow up question that he would ask.

Upon coming up with said questions and answers, Jay told him that a riftworm was responsible for the sinking of several cities, which Ilima City was a part of, and that the city had sunk almost thirty years prior. He then made a remark about how he didn't think to check the finer mechanisms of the device while he was restoring it to functioning order, before testing it himself.

Devin could only shake his head at the comment, before he himself told him that it was supposed to send them both to Jacinto or even Asura, but that idea didn't work out as nicely as it had on paper.

Then, just as he was about to slide the paper over to him, he stopped for a moment when he reread the response.

He then started to shake.

_[Please tell me that the thirty years thing was a joke. I was evacuating Ilima City six months ago! It's impossible that I've been gone for that long! What of my brothers Anthony, Benjamin, and Clayton? What happened to them?!] _ He wrote down frantically, his breathing becoming erratic and his heart was pumping vigorously as the information that was then told to him was hitting him in full force.

Jay was confused as to what he meant, but when he read the question over and over again, it finally clicked in his mind that the man who sat across from him was someone from the Locust War, not from modern times.

With a sigh escaping from his mouth, Jay picked up the pen and, with heavy heart, began explaining everything about what happened since the evacuation of Ilima City.

He explained that the war had lasted an additional five or six years since that had happened, with the death of General Raam by the hands of Marcus Fenix and the rest of Delta Squad. He explained that they had used the lightmass bomb and had deployed and it targeted the hollows beneath the Andarr Mountains (**I made the name up, but if someone does know about the real name of those mountains, please either PM me or leave it in a review so I can come back and fix it**).

After that, they had assaulted the locust hollows and made a direct assault against the main locust stronghold and the queen herself. They had flooded the hollows with ocean water, after sinking the city of Jacinto via detonating a lambent brumak with the Hammer of Dawn, reducing locust numbers and their home within the hollows permanently. But with the destruction of Jacinto, Chairman Prescott going into hiding at Azura, and the remnants of the COG living either on ships or on land, and that there wasn't much run-ins with the locust.

That was, until the lambent had invaded the surface in full force- killing any human and locust that stood in their way.

In the final years of the war, Marcus Fenix had travelled a long distance, possible a continent's worth, to find his father, Adam Fenix, and rescue him while deploying the imulsion countermeasure device. This device would kill off all imulsion and lambent cells that were within most of, if not all, species on the planet. However, during this mission, they had come across Queen Myrrah and her horde as they were making their way to Anvil Gate. With her in the picture, the lambent attacking them, and the data retrieved from a data chip on the whereabouts of where Azura is located, they had taken an old submarine and navigated through the Maelstrom Barrier and finally arrived at the island.

Devin remembers that thing very well; he and an old friend of his named Keegan would always complain about how it felt they were going to be throwing up or how they were going to get a concussion from it flinging them around.

Those weren't fun times.

Upon their arrival, they destroyed the Maelstrom device and ascended the tower to where Adam Fenix was being held, but along the way they had received help from the remnants of the UIR and a few of the other powers, while simultaneously being attacked on all sides by the locust and lambent. When they got to the top, they had to fight a two-sided battle between the queen and the locust trying to kill them and the lambent killing everything.

Then the countermeasure was deployed, Myrrah was killed, and the locust were finished off for good.

Only for them to return nearly three decades later with more variants, stronger weapons, and a hellacious thirst for human blood.

At least the kryll and berserkers were killed off.

With his head being held within his hands, Devin's breathing erratic, and a shaking hand grasping a pen, he wrote down one question.

_[And my brothers?]_

_[Anthony Carmine was killed via headshot a year after the evacuation of Ilima City. Benjamin Carmine was killed during Operation Lifeboat when he fell into the maw of the riftworm and was torn to pieces by the parasites that resided inside of it. Clayton Carmine, however, lived to see the end of the war and is currently deployed in one of the settlements along side his daughter, Elizabeth Carmine. Both of whom are still alive and well.]_ (**Spoilers at the bottom, if you haven't played Gears 5!**)

At reading the parts where his two youngest brothers were killed in action and only Clayton was still alive, Devin couldn't hold back the tears, smacking his head on the table as he cried at knowing that if he ever went back to Sera, he'd never see Squirt or Tiny Tony again.

Jay, as with most people who didn't know what to do, could only sit there in awkward silence as the larger man could only cry at the information that was given to him.

"We can talk later, I'll uh… I'll be going now." He said, scratching the back of his neck as he stood up and silently left the vicinity, going to see if there was something else on the ship that he could do to get his mind off what he had inadvertently caused.

It was an accident, after all, one that he felt bad for.

* * *

Tulma had came down a few after Jay left, consoling the man she cared for as he held onto her tightly, all while he was sputtering and saying that he was sorry over and over again. She wasn't sure if he was apologizing to her or to someone else, but whoever it was, he deeply cared for them and truly meant every word he was saying.

She didn't know what happened, nor what the strange writing on the notebook had said, which she tried translating it through her omni-tool but no existing match came up within any database, so she just assumed that it was from his home.

"It's okay Devin, it's okay, I promise you. I'm here now; just let it all out." She softly told him, rocking with the man slowly as he continued on with his breakdown.

Kasumi was in the corner watching the whole thing; at first, she was only spying on him and the new guy since they seemed to know each other, but halfway through their written conversation, something was told to the man and it brought him into the state that he's in now. So, with her knowing that now of all times was not the time for her recording what was happening, she deactivated her cloak and gave a small nod to Tulma as she consoled him, softly smiling at her as she left the hangar bay.

Sometimes, everyone needed their own space and their own time without having others intrude upon it. And now was definitely one of those times.

* * *

Be Justin.

Justin was currently underneath a workbench in the armory trying to fit and place a new magnetic clamping system that would hold weapons and armor pieces still at a much more reasonable and longer time with no loss of efficiency. Jacob had been wanting to install this piece for a week now, but with the upgrades to the armor, weapons, and a couple of omni-tools taking up most of his time, he just didn't have the time nor resources to do it.

Until today, that is.

"How's it looking down there?" Jacob asked the man, watching as sparks were currently flying out from the inside of the workbench and music was playing from a small radio that sat just to right of him.

Whatever it was that was playing, Jacob knew that the person or group who made had way too much time on their hands: it sounded like an old early 2000's heavy metal version of the even older circus/carnival music.

There were no lyrics, only metal.

(**Look up the song Step Right Up by Zynthetic, the song is used in the summer side show event and the carnival map on Killing Floor 2, which is what this this song is.**)

"Well, I'm having to either remove a few redundancies here and there, add a few parts, and move around a few odds and ends here and there. Other than that, everything is going pretty smooth down here; all I need now is the docking clamp down here, a little bit of welding, a few more minutes, and another song before I'm finished." He tells him, sliding from the inside of the workbench and onto the floor where he then grabs his small radio and switches the song to one with more electronic sounds, a few extra beats and what appears to be someone saying something faintly in the background.

"Perfect."

Just before Jacob could say anything about what he needed; the radio sprang to life with a few lyrics.

-_You may have heard, as it were, the noise of thunder. One of the four beasts saying, 'Come and see.' And I saw, in behold… spaghetti._-

Jacob could only shake his head at the song, letting out a silent laugh as he looked back at Justin.

"What types of rods do you need for the welding? We've got a few of them here and one of them might be what you're looking for."

"I'll need something that burns at a high temperature: a 60-11 rod or a 60-18 rod would be perfect. However, as is the case with those rods, I'm going to need to run them on reverse-polarity with the welder I have here. If you can find those rods, it'll make my job down here much easier."

"Why not use a modern welder for that then? They come equipped with an adaptive circuit, you know?"

"Dad always liked to do things the old-fashioned way; hence why Boomer isn't a hologram and is instead an actual piece of equipment that you can place wherever you want. Besides, I like it when you can take a look at something and admire the fact that you finished it by using a much older system. It gives you a sense of pride and accomplishment, you know?" Justin explained, fully engrossed with his work as he began preparing for the welding that needed to be done.

With the information given to him, Jacob nodded his head and went to look in the spare parts and repair crates that were lying in the back of the room, but finding them would take a few minutes at best, and a half-hour at worst.

He'd better start looking for them now, if he wants this part installed by the end of the day.

That was until Shepard came through the doors.

"Hey Jacob, have you seen Justin… nevermind, I found him." He said, stopping for a second as he looked at the pair of legs that were currently bobbing back and forth to the beat of the song.

"_Always the weird ones…_ What are you doing down there Justin?"

At hearing Shepard, Justin came back from beneath the workbench and turned his radio off and looked up at the man, before responding.

"Hey Commander, I'm just adding a few extra parts here for Jacob so that he could have better results when it comes to either manufacturing parts, repairs, or even making new items. Also, I can do infinitely more with the new mag clamp there," he says, pointing at the piece of equipment that was lying on top of the bench, and then gesturing to the other parts and tools that were lying around him, "installed and ready to be used whenever I need it."

"Okay, I can see how that would be beneficial to us, but I have to ask; where'd that radio come from?"

"Kasumi gave it to me, after I gave her a sample of those plants from when we were rescuing those people. Evidently those specific types of plants could be made into some _serious_ pain killers; I'm talking morphine levels here, Commander. That, and they might be turned into a drug, I don't know. She gave a few contacts the location of that planet and got enough credits to buy a fully stocked cruiser, with a complimentary crew to man it. How they were worth that much, I dunno. What I do know is that I have a sick new radio."

Shepard just stared at Justin for a few moments in silence, watching as his face adopt a look of mild shame as Shepard shook his head.

"I did bad, didn't I?"

"Not really but yes at the same time, but a new pain killer and potential food source for the quarians will be a major boon for them. Just… just come back to me when you have something that has potential use to harm the galaxy at large, or a select number of species."

"I promise I will Commander."

With that said and done, Shepard nods his head and leaves the armory, wondering around the ship looking for who he's going to take with him on the mission to assault the collector vessel.

He's going to be bringing Jay along for this mission and not Devin, mainly because Jay has a hard suit that could actually withstand the harshness of a vacuum and space. Though, from what Jacob has told him about the data chip that he has, it wouldn't surprise him if there was a variant of his armor that would be sufficient enough.

Maybe Justin could work on it?

Now, who else was he going to bring?

"Samara, Thane, Tyler, or Grunt… Tulma…"

With his mind made up, Shepard looks up and asks EDI on Tulma's whereabouts, with her being in the hangar bay with Devin.

With Shepard entering the elevator, he takes it down to the hangar and sees Tulma sitting with Devin at his bed, both seemingly quiet and content with being in each other's presence.

Too bad he's going to ruin that moment.

"Tulma, you and Jay are going with me to assault the collector ship and see if we can find anything of importance there; anything from locations to information that we don't have at this current moment in time. We'll be ready to leave in thirty, okay?"

"Of course, Commander." She tells him, nodding at the man as Shepard went back to the elevator, leaving the two of them alone once again.

Devin could only stare at the notebook with an unfocused gaze, his eyes seeing and reading those sentences over and over again about the fate of his younger siblings, all the while Tulma held him.

After a minute of silence, she speaks up, "Devin, please tell me what caused you to get like that; in the time that I've known you, you've never been like this, even when you found out that you were stuck here and when Sidonis betrayed us." She asks him, pulling his head towards her as he blinks his bloodshot eyes clear.

He tried to say something, he really did, but all that came out were croaks and stuttered breaths.

He then harshly cleared his throat, almost growling as he does so, before looking into her eyes.

"My family… Benjamin, Anthony, mom and dad… they're all dead. I- I didn't think that me being here would cause a time dilation… stupid, stupid, stupid," he tells her, smacking his head a few times as he cursed at his lack of foresight, "and now, me being here for months translates into being gone for nearly thirty years! Clayton… bastard is probably in his fifties now. I… I don't know anymore…"

Tulma nodded her head in understanding, only understanding the basis of what time dilation is and how it can affect the universe (or several, in this case), but seeing the results of what can happen when that basis is applied is somewhat terrifying.

Reaching over and grabbing the notebook, Tulma gently holds it and shows it to Devin, asking him about what the words that were written on it meant.

"That's the Vasgari written dialect, a langue and nation of people from my home, and Jay and I were conversing through that; didn't want EDI to listen in on our conversation, even though she probably is right now. Jay is from where I'm from, that much should be obvious, and I began to ask about what all has happened since I've been gone. Spoiler alert: I'm fucked and can't go back."

That was… an eye opener for Tulma: if what he says is true, then he truly has no place back home, practically no friends or any family left, and nothing to show for it.

"Well, call me a little bit selfish, but I don't want you going back; you escaped from a nightmare made reality, with little to no hope of survival, and you came here. I found you wondering the streets of Omega confused and lost, but Garrus and I gave you a purpose, we gave you a home, and most importantly, we gave you hope. Don't let everyone's sacrifices back on Omega mean nothing Devin, you'll not only hurt them, but you'll hurt us and yourself. Now," she tells him, letting go of the man and setting the notebook down, before standing up and looking down at him with a soft expression, "I'm sure Glaz misses you, and the rest of us, but please be strong for us; I hate seeing you like this. I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Okay, and Tulma?" Devin calls out to her, seeing that she turned around to look at him with her head tilted.

"Yes Devin?"

"Thanks, thanks for everything; I'd probably be dead, some low-life merc, or worse… Thank you for being there, staying with me, and most of all, being my friend here."

Tulma merely smiles at him, as he does the same, and gave him a small wave before entering the elevator, which in turns makes Devin sigh as he lies back on is bed and stares up at the ceiling.

He felt something in his chest, something that he hasn't felt before, but it was… different than what he's used to.

'_Mom would probably say it's love, and knowing her, she'd be right. I guess that I really do love-'_

Devin's thoughts are cut off as the feeling in his chest begins to burn, causing the man to lose his breath and his eyes to bulge out, opening his mouth to let out a silent scream as he began to spasm on the bed in silent agony.

He then turned and fell off the bed and quickly pulled out a bucket that he used as a trashcan and promptly threw up in it, relieving his chest, stomach, and throat of whatever it was that was currently making his insides feel as if they were on fire.

After he was finished, he wiped his mouth with a rag that he used to clean his weapons and armor, and what he seen on it made his blood turn into ice.

A fluorescent-yellow substance that had some of his blood mixed within it was now coating the piece of cloth and the inside of his small trashcan.

Devin, with a horror-stricken face, could only silently mutter a single word.

"_Imulsion…_"

* * *

"This place gives me the creeps." Tulma said, observing the surrounding room as she, Shepard, and Jay hopped out of the shuttle and readies their weapons.

"No kidding, being on one of the vessels that belongs to the group who's responsible for my death and the Normandy's destruction a couple of years ago is giving me chills." Shepard commented, poking around some of the chitinous/viscous material that coated the walls and floors of the ship.

With how quiet everything was, how eerie the atmosphere was, and the lack of any resistance gave the group a sense of dread as they had pushed on through the entrance and further into the ship.

Jay had taken an interest in the architectural designs of the ship, looking around the place and scanning the mysterious materials that clung to the metal, with Shepard and Tulma walking past him and through a bulkhead, which makes the man realize that he needs to catch up.

With how quiet everything was, the three of them had their weapons raised for whatever would come their way; from what they had experienced before in their time during military service, this was the perfect setup for an ambush.

If one were to occur, and it most likely will, the three of them were more than capable of handling anything that was sent their way. Thanks to Justin's recent upgrades to Shepard's and Tulma's gear, their survivability and combat effectiveness has increased exponentially. But with Jay, the two of them were unsure, considering that he uses similar weapons and gear as Devin does but seemingly a little more advanced, or at least a later rendition of what he uses.

Shepard had planned on taking Tulma and Tyler for this mission, but with the sudden appearance of their newest crew member, Shepard needed to see how the man held up in a firefight.

"Hey Jay, mind if I ask a few questions?" Tulma asked, lowering her rifle for a minute as they began walking up a ramp as Shepard was salvaging any technology that he could.

"Sure thing, ma'am, as long as they aren't too intrusive."

"If you and Devin are from the same place, why aren't you as large as he is?"

Jay turned to look at the woman, raising an eyebrow at the question as he quickly looks over to Shepard, who was currently out of earshot, before nodding.

"Well, do you know where I actually come from? Okay, well… I may be as tall as the average man back home, but I'm slimmer due to genetics; crazy, I know. I may be smaller in size, but I'm still stronger than the humans here, however, Devin is easily stronger than me due to his larger muscle mass. I blame the gene therapy, in my opinion, but mom wanted a son and she got one. Sorry but that's all I got to say for that matter, that and Shepard wants us to see something." He tells her, coming to an understanding that the veteran gear must've told her about his origins, which was fine with him.

"You two done talking? Check this thing out: it's one of the pods that the collectors use, exactly the same ones we've seen at Horizon and Freedom's Progress… but these are empty." Shepard told them, kneeling down and looking at said pod with scrutiny and a scowl on his face, only able to imagine what torment that a person has to go through when they're in one of these and completely at the mercy of the collectors.

He's going to make sure that these bastards were going to pay for everything they did.

Walking further along the path, they spot a pile of misshapen and torn mass of flesh, but when they got closer to it, Tulma let out a very audible gasp as she, Jay and Shepard seen exactly what the pile consisted of.

"Are those… are those… humans?"

"Yeah… looks like they were tested on, maybe even experimented as a control group or something; it explains why they were discarded here in a pile." Jay told them, kneeling down and looking into the eyes of one of the bodies as he shakes his head in pity, before closing them in a last act of kindness.

Shepard was pissed, as to be expected.

"There's worse things than death; being the subject of torture and experimentation by the hands of murdering aliens is one of them. Let's go, there isn't much else we can do for them now." Shepard orders, readying his rifle once again as the others do the same, before giving them one last look and turning away.

They will be avenged, he and everyone with him in this ship and on the Normandy are going to make sure of that.

"What the hell is that?" Shepard mutters, stepping up to an open pod that had a dead collector lying within it.

"That's a collector. What in the name of the spirit's were they doing to this one? Experimenting?" Tulma asked, stepping up to get a closer look at the carcass as Shepard walked up to the console and Jay stood back to keep an eye out for anything that may attack them.

With his omni-tool ready, Shepard had bypassed the security systems within the terminal and downloaded all the information that he could, making sure to keep a personal copy for himself as he sent the information to EDI to see if she couldn't translate the data that was contained within.

"EDI, I'm sending you some data that I found here, but I can't make heads or tails of it; mind figuring out the information for me?" He asked the AI, confident in her abilities to do exactly as he requested, considering her nature as an artificial intelligence.

"_Data received, Commander: analyzing the information now… it seems as if the collectors were running baseline genetic comparisons between their species and humanity._" She tells him, sending Shepard the data that she translated back to his omni-tool for him to see it with his own eyes.

Upon opening the data, he quickly scrolled through it, his face scrunching up in confusion as he couldn't make any sense of what he was reading.

He was a soldier, not a damn xeno-biologist or geneticist.

When asking EDI why they were doing that and for what purpose they were trying to achieve, she tells him that she has no current theory or hypothesis as to what their intentions are, or were at the time, only that she had the preliminary results from their testing. Upon further analysis by the AI, she alludes that the results were something remarkable and never before seen.

"_These results are as follows, Commander: a quad-strand of genetic structure, which the only known identical traces of this structure were linked back to and discovered in ancient ruins. Only one species is known to have this particular structure: the protheans._" She explains, causing Tulma to nearly drop her weapon in disbelief and Shepard to take a couple of steps back at the bombshell that was just dropped on them

Jay didn't understand the implications of what was just revealed to them, but he knew how to play along.

"You're telling me that the species who went missing fifty thousand years ago just so happens to show up in recent times as these insect things? What the fuck."

"Yeah… my god, the protheans weren't wiped out by the reapers, they were made into their slaves!" Shepard exclaimed, his complete and undivided attention lying on the dead collector as EDI explained that they were no longer the protheans of ancient times, but were heavily modified and changed with severe genetic alterations being heavily provident in their DNA.

Shepard told her that someone should've picked up on this sooner than just now, but was refuted when EDI told him that there has never been a chance to study their genetic code this close to an intact specimen in this level of detail.

She then went on to explain that with the amount of genetic alteration and rewrite, the collectors no longer resemble their prothean counterparts, but was able to find the genetic marker of the current specimen hailing from a colony in the Theta Styx cluster. However, the genetic alterations include, but aren't limited to, fewer chromosomes, hetero-chromatin structures, and even the superfluous '_junk_' sequences.

All in all, the protheans are dead and the collectors are basically their autonomous/animate corpses who will do whatever their masters order them to.

With that out in the open, the three of them agrees that they need to keep moving, less they get ambushed, and continues on with their mission.

"What about the guns on the floor here?" Jay asks, pointing to a small pile of three weapons as Tulma and Shepard turns back and sees them.

"I only have enough room to carry one of them, but if you and Tulma want to grab the other two, go right ahead."

"That's all I needed and wanted to hear." He said, reaching down and grabbing the three discarded weapons off the ground, before inspecting them.

With that said, Jay tosses Shepard the widow anti-material rifle, Tulma the revenant light machine gun, and keeps the claymore shotgun for himself, seeing as he's probably the only human, besides Devin, who can shoot the thing without deleting his wrist, shoulder, and everything in between.

With this weapon, things were going to get messy.

* * *

Things got messy when they activated that mysterious terminal: the collector ship was the same one that destroyed the original Normandy two years ago, the pods that lined the hull of the ship were numerous enough to have everyone in the Terminus Systems and still had room to spare, the severe lack of bodies that should be lying around made the group even more on edge, and the terminal that they had accessed had released a virus into the Normandy's systems, momentarily shutting them down and causing a blackout on both sides of the comms.

That was when the platform that they found themselves on was lifted into the air and was then completely surrounded on all sides by swarms of collectors, possessed collectors, and a couple of scions, which funnily enough reminded Jay exactly of the scions that were in the swarm back on Sera.

Odd how the names were exactly the same.

Jay was getting pissed off at the so called Harbinger always saying stupid one-liners such as: _I know you feel this, you cannot stop us, the interloper will be studied, I'm stupid and have a big head with a pea-sized brain_.

Okay, that last one he didn't say, but with the amount of things that he was saying, it wouldn't surprise him if he did.

That, and who in the hell was the interloper?

"_Eighty-four percent._" EDI informed the trio over the comms, keeping them up to date as they were currently avoiding getting shot to death by Harbinger, a drone, and two scions.

"EDI, get us out of here!" Shepard orders her, loading a fresh thermal clip into the widow as he fires at the bulbous mass on one of the scions, seeing that it had caused said mass to rupture violently and sending out a large amount of black and viscous liquid.

"_I am simultaneously fighting collector firewalls in over eight thousand nodes, Commander; I am tasked to capacity._"

"We've got another wave incoming!" Tulma screamed, alerting them to two more platforms that had just arrived and docked with the others, effectively giving their forces an additional six troops.

Shepard could only groan as he had primed a frag grenade and tossed it at the injured scion, the explosion causing the abomination to stagger and fall off the side of the platform and down into the abyss bellow.

Shepard was glad that he seen that happen with his built-in camera; no one would've believed him, if he told them about what had just occurred.

Tulma was honestly having fun with her new weapon; it may have been big, inaccurate, and heavy, but the sheer power from the weapon was enough to offset those flaws. She had been firing it at the weaker targets with the intention of taking them out of the fight as soon as possible, so that Jay and Shepard could deal with the bigger threats, namely the scions and Harbinger.

When she looked over, she seen that one of the scions were gone and another remained with it roaring at them in its bastardized language.

That was until Jay began firing shot after shot of his shotgun into the creature's torso at point blank range, somehow maneuvering himself around the barriers and bullets enough to get within ten human feet of the monstrosity, tearing large chunks of flesh, metal, wiring, and blood all over him and the surrounding area.

When he had ran out of thermal clips for it, he took a strange looking grenade off of his waist and primed it, its flat, rounded head giving off a slight yellow glow as it was ready to detonate. Then he charged it, his hand held high as he violently shoves his fist and the grenade inside of the gaping hole where all the organ would've been, and rolls away from the scion, watching as the grenade detonated and released electricity throughout the abomination's body.

She watched as it spasmed and shook violently in place, unable to move as the electricity was coursing through its body, before it stopped and fell to ground dead from being electrocuted to death.

Now all that remained was Harbinger, and he was currently holding Shepard in the air while monologuing… again.

"**You will perish here, Shepard, along with your comrades. They cannot stop what is coming, and neither can you: we will ensure the harvest is completed and the cycle**-"

"For the love of god, SHUT UP ALREADY!" Shepard screamed, raising his widow and pointing directly at one of Harbinger's eyes, less than an inch away from its face, and pulls the trigger, completely turning the entire head into a pulpy mass, which then causes Shepard to drop five feet to the ground as the corpse fades away.

Tulma reloaded her new weapon and jogged to where Shepard had fell, seeing that the man was holding up a finger as he was lying on the ground and catching his breath.

"Worst. Shot. Ever." He panted out, causing Tulma and Jay to look at each other in confusion.

"How so?"

"I shot a _widow_ at point-blank into a solid surface, the recoil the proceeded to slam the stock into my shoulder, and I fell on said shoulder."

"You'll live." Jay said, reaching his hand down to the man as Shepard grasped it.

With Jay pulling him up, Shepard could only nod in thanks as Jay returned the gesture, then proceeded to tell EDI to get them out of where they currently were and to help them find a path back to the shuttle.

EDI informed them that she had regained control of the platform and had found the necessary data which would help them navigate the Omega-4 relay network, which Shepard complimented her on.

"Anything else?"

"Yes. I was able to find the source of the turian distress call that was used to lure us into this trap. The collectors were the source, though it is unusual." She told them, sifting through the information as Shepard and the others looked at each other with uncertainty.

"Care to explain on what you mean, EDI?" Shepard asked, walking off the platform as it came to a stop with Jay and Tulma not far behind him.

"It is unusual because turian emergency channels have secondary encryptions encoded within them, but in the distress call it was corrupted."

That last part caught Tulma's attention immediately, and in turn caught Shepard's as well.

"Tulma?"

"It was fake Commander; the probability of those channels being corrupted are near zero in any turian ship, even simple shuttles. With this being corrupted, the collectors had to have fabricated it just to get our attention." She explains, sounding upset at the revelation of what EDI had explained.

"She is correct Shepard, given the information that Ms. Sparatus has shared; the Illusive Man would have never believed that the distress call was genuine from the start. In laymen's terms, he knew it was fake and that it'd lead us into a trap."

That last sentence pissed the entire group off, with Joker telling them that he knew that Cerberus would betray them sooner or later.

Shepard had told them that he was definitely going to be giving the man a talk when he got back to the ship, and he was going to make sure that the man was going to hear about in a very derogatory fashion.

With them now double-timing it to the shuttles, Joker proceeds to inform that the ship was now powering up and that they needed to get out of there ASAP, with EDI offering her help where it was needed.

Running past the swarms of husks was easy, what wasn't easy was avoiding the hail of gunfire that was pelting their position (and sometimes hitting them in the ass, as was the case with Shepard once or twice), and on top of that avoiding a praetorian _and_ Harbinger as they now focused fire at them.

Fuck this ship and fuck the collectors and their reaper masters; Shepard's left ass cheek is hurting now.

"How much farther?!" Jay screamed, asking his question as he shoulder checked a simple drone into a wall before firing his shotgun into its head, effectively reducing it to a mist.

Tulma's biotics were glowing brightly, with her sending out one shockwave after another and a follow up warp, she was creating biotic explosions left and right with deadly efficiency, but with how hard she was breathing and panting, it was obvious that she was currently overexerting herself just so that they could escape the ship. The feeling of a migraine was already forming within her head, but she pushed through the pain and activated her wrist blades to test out Justin's upgrades to them.

With her leaping over cover and slamming into a drone, she took both of her blades and stabbed them as far as she could into the chest, though she was prompted to infuse the blades with warp properties as she met resistance along the way which makes her scream in frustration.

With a simple jerk, she pulls said blades straight up through the rest of the torso before jerking her blades out through the side, watching as the dead collector fell to the ground and almost bisected from her actions. Seeing the fruits of her labor caused the woman to let out a huff of satisfaction, glad to see that the upgrades weren't for naught and that they worked perfectly.

Shepard needed to use his last resort weapon, if they wanted to get out on time.

"EVERYONE, TAKE COVER!" He orders, dropping his rifle and reaching around his back to grab his heavy weapon.

"You're not thinking-" Tulma started, but was stopped by Shepard.

"You're damn right I am! Now eat this you flying, screeching, ugly blue carapace, eye laser beam shooting, crab reject!" Shepard screams, charging his weapon to its absolute limit, before a simple tick was heard and its payload was launched.

* * *

Be praeto the praetorian.

Praeto was a good praetorian who followed the will and commands of his masters for a countless amount of time now.

He and his family were ordered to kill Shepard and whoever else was with him, and being the praetorian that he is, he followed that order to the letter.

If he had an IQ higher than the amount of times that he been to the human homeworld of Earth (which is zero), he may have questioned why his masters wanted this human and his team dead.

But he didn't, because he was a good praetorian.

However, Shepard had said some pretty mean things to him, namely calling him ugly, which he wasn't, and that had hurt his feelings.

Wait, Praeto doesn't have feelings, so why does he hurt?

Turns out his carapace couldn't withstand the sheer pressure and force of a lead, eezo covered slug moving at five kilometers a second (**or 3.125 miles a second for us Americans**) and detonated with the force of a very large bomb.

That's probably why Praeto hurts, or can he feel pain?

Praeto is confused now.

Prato is also sleepy.

Praeto sleeps now.

* * *

"Was that necessary?" Tulma asked Shepard, crossing her arms as the man pulled himself up from the ground and shook his head to rid his ears of their ringing.

"Probably not, but hey; coast is clear now." Shepard responds, gesturing to the dissipating corpse of the praetorian that was attacking them and keeping them from going any further.

Tulma could only shake her head at the remark.

When the door that EDI opened had closed, Shepard contacted her and told them that they ran into a problem, a problem which she rectified by opening another door that was nearby.

When they entered through the door, Shepard pointed out that below them was where they had come in from before, to which Tulma agreed with him and said that they must be getting close.

Jay could only say one thing.

"We can jump down and avoid a lot of hostiles, but we'll need to be quick." He suggested, looking over the edge as the sounds of collector forces were rushing to meet them.

Shepard had only one thing to say about his suggestion.

"Are you out of your goddamn mind? That fall is probably forty or fifty feet!"

"You got a better idea?"

Shepard could only groan, looking over the edge as the sounds of the eager husks and abominations were nearly upon them.

"Fuck me." Is all that he says, lowering himself off the side of the platform that they were on and dropping below, grunting and groaning as he hit the ground and rolled to disperse any harmful momentum as Jay and Tulma were following suit.

With one look down, Jay mentally prepares himself for the feeling of inertia and gravity as he too follows Shepard's lead and hangs off the edge, but stopped as he looked up at Tulma who had her biotics glowing.

"What the hell are you doing up there? Let's go already!"

"I'm a biotic, I can somewhat float down to the ground there without hurting myself." She explains leaping off the edge as she used her biotics to slow her fall, albeit shakily, as Jay could only stare on in a small amount of jealousy.

"That ain't fair…" He mumbles to himself, letting go of the edge just as the first husk peeked over it and screamed at him, before he came to a roll and landed right beside Shepard and Tulma.

With the two men groaning in slight discomfort, and the one woman panting from exhaustion, (**it's not what it sounds like, so get your mind out of the gutter!**) they looked on ahead and seen the shuttle that they arrived in, which somewhat rejuvenated the team as they ran as fast as they could and jumped inside of their escape vessel.

Just in time too, as the second they took off, several dozen collector forces arrived, with over forty drones, twelve scions, ten praetorians, and Harbinger all firing everything that they had at their disposal towards the fleeing shuttle.

With them now inside the Normandy docking bay, breathing heavily, and feeling as if they had gone one on one with an YMIR mech and lost… several times.

That was when one of them started to chuckle, which in turn caused the other two to follow suit. Then they began laughing at their near-death experience as they finally stood up and opened the doors and hopped off the shuttle, the feeling of adrenaline that they had in their systems was now fading away.

As with the case, they nearly dropped right where they stood.

Shepard patted Jay on the back, taking his helmet off as he looked the man in the eyes.

"Good idea on telling us to jump; if we hadn't done that, we'd probably be dead from the number of collectors that were waiting on us down there. So… good job Jay, keep up the good work." Shepard told him, letting go of his shoulder as nodded at the man.

"Not a problem Commander; just doing what I thought was most beneficial to us."

"Indeed. Now, I'm ordering you two to head for the infirmary and have Chakwas patch you all up; I know that you're both felling like death at the moment and are in desperate need of rest. So, go ahead and get some, you've earned it." Shepard tells them, giving them both one last pat on the back as he enters the elevator and takes it to the CIC.

He's going to have a very long and very uncouth conversation with the Illusive Man on etiquette during an operation or a mission.

And for once, he's going to enjoy this conversation.

* * *

**That wraps up this chapter! If you have anything you want to say about it leave a review, PM, or neither of those; you're your own person, after all.**

**I made Elizabeth Clayton's daughter, because considering that she's his niece, that would imply that Devin did the nasty in the pasty and became an unknowing parent, but given how the woman appears to be in her 20's, that'd be impossible. That, and how she died was stupid: she could've either exited through the other door and ran to safety as the others did, or one of the DB's or even a DR-1 could've torn the door off its hinges and allowed her to get to safety with Delta squad. Which is the case with this story.**

**With the data copied and received by Shepard and co, we can get on with more loyalty missions, more recruitment missions, the shadowbroker dlc, and many more! All in all, I can't wait to get to that time, but I'll have to. (unless I want to make a ridiculously long chapter composing of over 200 or 300 thousand words, but I'd probably go into catatonic shock from that).**

**All jokes aside, I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you all next week!**

**Goodbye!**


	20. Like Father, Like Gun

**Hello everyone, chapter's out, but not last Monday like I had originally wanted. The reason for this is because I'm thinking about about moving to an apartment, one that's not only closer to work, but is also cheaper on bills as well: 500 a month, and utilities are included with that. Electricity is separate, but trash collection and water are put into the bill. But this is all speculation on whether or not I'll actually live there, as my friend and I gets to see it much better than we have from images and pictures. Not really much to say other than I'm sorry, but as a way to make it all up to everyone; after this chapter is out, tomorrow around 12pm east coast time, I'll be releasing the next one, which is Garrus' loyalty mission.**

**Moving on from that, this chapter is all about Thane finding and stopping his son from committing an act that'll drive him down a path of darkness and despair. A lot has been changed since in the mission for the sake of this story, mainly with the addition of a crew member, which is Tyler, going with Shepard and Thane as the trail Joram Talid, the racist turian politician, and a few more. You're going to see and learn a lot about Tyler's past in this one, boys and girls (or whichever you identify as, it is practically 2020 so you never know) and it's going to be sad. Not only that, but Thane gets to see his son and reconciles with him over what has happened between them in the past, and as promised, you get to see a bit of the mission in his eyes and how he reacts to being on the job and how it gets interrupted by Shepard and co. Maybe it's good, maybe not, but I hope it is.**

**Review Time:**

**Blaze: Whoops, I'll try and go back to fix that here soon. And in Gears lore, I don't they ever created a cure or a treatment for when the imulsion coalesces inside of your system, like rustlung, for instance. And while the newer variations of COG weaponry are better, Devin would gladly keep his babies, though he will also gladly take a retro lancer and a few others weapons.**

**Guest: Such is the curse when time dilation is in play; listen to a song from Queen simply labeled as '39, it's about a group of twenty astronauts leaving earth and looking for a new home for humanity, and they left in the year '39 and were gone for year. A quote from that song, and do keep in mind the previous sentence when reading this: oh_ so many years have gone, though I'm older but a year, your mother's eyes from your eyes cry to me._ The astronauts had left in the year '39 and came back a year later, year '40, but instead, due to time dilation, it has been a 100 years. And yes, Jay is from the Gears 4 and 5 era.**

**Captain: Yeah the gag should've ended with Clayton, but nope Elizabeth was killed (albeit it was an awesome way to die). Justin doesn't have the resources to furnish a cruiser, Kasumi merely gained that many credits to that, Justin only received a wink, a smile, a kiss on the cheek, and an old style MP3 player/radio. Honestly the tesla add on for Tulma's wrist blades are a great idea, and the way they could be incorporated is solid as well. Thank you! And ACME... wow, that made me laugh. Maybe you should do a one-shot about that?**

**With that out of the way, enjoy the chapter and remember to check back after a few hours to read the next one.**

**See you soon!**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty: Like Father, Like Gun**

Thane kept reading the message that he received over and over again; an old contact of his has told him that his son, Kolyat, has begun his journey down a dark and destructive path. A path that Thane is more than familiar with on a personal level: a level that he doesn't want Kolyat experiencing himself and potentially ruining his life forever.

Which is why he had contacted EDI to inform Shepard that he would like to speak with him personally about an issue that needs his immediate attention.

He only hopes that Shepard will take him to where he needs to go.

Shepard knocked on the door leading to Thane's personal room, not wanting to just barge in on the man and invade his privacy, before entering and seeing that he had both of his hands clasped together and held close to his face, seemingly deep in thought.

"Hey are you okay there Thane? You seem… kinda lost in thought." Shepard asked the man, causing the drell to shake his head abruptly to get a hold of himself, before looking at Shepard and answering.

"I am fine Commander; I was just pulled into a memory for a moment there. Nothing too serious, I assure you."

"What was it about?" He asked, taking a seat across from the man as he put both of his hands together and held them to his chin.

You can read all you want about different cultures, mannerisms, and ideologies, but seeing them first-hand is an entirely new experience. Same with learning things about others that makes them unique.

"As you know, all drell have a unique ability that allows us to relive memories in near-perfect detail for a set amount of time, eidetic memory is the term that humans use for this ability; we can sometimes get lost in these memories for all the right reasons or even the wrong ones, the good memories and the bad ones in particular. You came in and seen this happening first hand. Nothing to worry about, I assure you, but the reasoning for it happening is something that I requested help for: my son, Kolyat, is the only remaining member of my family, and I haven't seen him in a long time… a very long time."

Following the man as he went to his weapon rack to look at it, Shepard stood beside him and asked about how long it had been since he's actually seen him, considering that he's never spoken of having a son at all before this meeting, to which Thane informs him that it's been a little over ten years since he left.

'_This is starting to sound a lot like Jacob's affair and his relationship with his father.'_ Shepard thought to himself, raising an eyebrow at just how similar the two instances were with each other, only that the roles had been reversed with Thane looking for his son, and not the other way around.

"It's funny, the last time I seen him was when he showed me some of his school work and asked if we could dance crazy; something my wife and I did a lot with him when he was younger." Thane reminisced, his voice trailing off as Shepard nodded at the information.

"What kind of dance is that? It's not something that I've heard or read on the extranet."

"It's," Thane starts, before his suddenly dull and go unfocused, moving rapidly from all angles as he recounts what happened, "I look at my list of extranet contacts. I expect an update on my next target. The console plays music; old, unfashionable in today's climate. Kolyat runs into the room, his mother in tow. _"Hi father!"_ Runs around in circles, I scoop him off the ground; toss him into the air as he shrieks with laughter. _"Spin me!"_ The console beeps. I set him down. Check the massage's contents. _"Father!"_ He pleads._ "I need to read this."_ I tell him. I don't look at him."

During the entire time that he was reciting that, Shepard couldn't help but look at the man, perturbed as he witnessed the man recount everything in perfect detail.

He really wished he didn't see his eyes acting like they were experiencing REM sleep (**Rapid Eye Movement- a term used for when someone is sleeping and are currently experiencing dreams that are either vivid or full of depth. Ha ha, I bet you weren't expecting to learn something science-y when you started reading this, were you?**) as he was awake and speaking to him in rapid succession; much like Mordin would whenever Shepard asked him about the progress of any research that he had going on.

Clearing his throat to get the thoughts and images out of his head, Shepard had asked him if anything had happened to his family since then, only to be met with the man lowering his head to the ground, as he explains that he abandoned one day, that it was nothing dramatic with leaving them in the midst of the night, no arguing or slammed doors, that he only had his contracts to finish and that he had killed all across the galaxy.

"_Away on business._" My wife would tell people; I was always away on business."

"That couldn't have been easy on Kolyat, considering that he was only a child at the time and only his mother was around." Shepard commented, his mind filling with memories of his dad being away on official Alliance business for weeks or months at a time.

It still didn't change the fact that he and Jane didn't love the man any less than if he was around more often; though he did wish that he _was_ around more often.

"When my wife… _departed_," he said the last word with a sense of distaste, almost pitting it out, "I… attended to that issue. I left Kolyat to be tended in the care of his aunts and uncles. I have not seen him since that day." He told him, going back to his desk as Shepard took in all the information that was given to him, before following the man back to his desk and taking the opposite seat from him.

"That's not the choice I expected, that's for sure; why not take him with you, you know raise him yourself?"

Thane was quick to refute that, stating that his body had been honed with the skills to take life, that the hanar furthered those skills even more, and that he has few others. He then proceeded to say that he didn't want Kolyat living that life, that he wanted him to live by his own morals and to find his own path in life, and if he hated Thane for leaving him, then he accepted that thought in its fullest. He wanted him to not follow the path of sin as he has.

"I used my contacts to trace Kolyat. He's become disconnected, doing whatever his body wills. When a drell becomes disconnected, they are no longer doing what their soul, their true self, wants; only wanting to do what his body would normally never do as intended by the soul. The soul and body are no longer whole. Something happened that caused him to go down this route; he's discovered what I've done, where I've been, and what I'm capable of. I don't know his reasons, Commander, but he has gone to the Citadel and is currently taking a job as a hitman… Commander… Shepard, I need your help to stop him from walking down this dark, destructive, and lonely path. Please, help me save my son." Thane asked him, almost pleading with the man to help him right all of his wrongdoings.

Not just in his life and to others, but mainly for his son.

Shepard could only smile.

"We'll stop your son before he does anything rash, I assure you."

"Thank you, Shepard."

* * *

Walking through the automated doors, Shepard, Thane, and Tyler heads straight for Bailey, seeing as he was their go-to man for when they needed to find someone on the station, and with his record in keeping information on everyone and everything that Shepard had asked for thus far, he doesn't see why he shouldn't speak with the man yet again for the umpteenth time.

"Shepard, what can I do for you this time? Need information on a location, or are you looking for someone?" Bailey asked, leaning back in his chair as he finished typing some report on his terminal to give the group his full attention.

"Hey Bailey, still working hard or hardly working? Jokes aside, my colleague here is trying to find his son, a drell by the name of Kolyat; we think a local criminal may have hired him." Shepard told him, forward a picture to the man from his omni-tool to help them find their target faster, for Thane's sake.

"Should be easy, we don't get many drell here… and there we go, one of my men reported a drell matching the one in the picture recently speaking with Mouse. Interesting…" He trailed off, silently reading the information himself as to see what else was brought up.

When questioned about the name, Bailey explained that Mouse was a petty criminal, probably not the man that they were after, but was instead most likely a messenger of sorts. He had told them that he used to be a duct rat, a term used for those who live in the ducts of the Citadel, and that he'll run errands for anyone willing to pay. He then explained that every once in a while, they do, regrettably and unfortunately, find a body that was torn up by fans, broken from a fall, or even exposed to the vacuum of space.

"Some disappear, and with all these scanners and machines that we have nowadays, you'd think that we'd be able to find at least a sign of where they've went, but we don't: maybe they fall into the protein vats that the keepers run, I don't know." Bailey said, shaking his head slowly at the thought as Shepard frowned at the information.

Whoever this Mouse was, they were lucky not to have met a grisly fate, when others had.

"Believe it or not," Bailey started, interrupting Shepard as the man began to ask another question, "Mouse was selling a VI copy of you."

"Me?"

"Yeah, and when you deleted files, it would say, _"I delete files like you on the way to real errors."_ It was buggy as hell though; crashed every few hours max and half-hour at minimum and the error message stated that the galaxy was at stake and that you should fix it yourself. Anyways that's all that I have about the kid, you can find him hanging around Dark Star Lounge, but you really should get a copy of that Shepard VI, I'm sure a man with your talents and skills would be able to find a person who could fix it up. But other than that, your boy sounds like he's running with the wrong crowd and is in need of desperate help." Bailey told them, looking at Thane as he nodded his head at the officer in return, silently thanking him for helping them.

Shepard didn't know why the man was helping them this much, all he asked for was a contact that he could follow and/or ask for the whereabouts of Kolyat, but Bailey went above and beyond that by giving a name, location, and even more information than what they actually needed, so he asked him about that and why he gave them more than he needed.

Bailey's response was one that he wasn't expecting.

"I've worked Zakera Ward for two years; everyday kids turn to crime because they don't have a choice anymore. Because their parents don't care about their well-being as any sane, caring, and loving parent should… You're trying to save yours."

Thane lowers his head, Bailey's words hitting the man deep as he could only think about what was said to him, before speaking up.

"He… he is walking a dark path; one that I and his mother wouldn't want him treading down."

With that said, Shepard motions for both Thane and Tyler to follow him outside, bidding Bailey a good day as they exited the area and entered the wards.

Thane was quiet the entire time as they walked up the flights of stairs, his mind replaying Bailey's words over and over again, with him wondering what would've happened if he actually stayed and raised Kolyat himself, instead of leaving him with his wife's family.

Would he have turned out the same? Would he be in school learning about the galaxy and furthering it by learning a career that required a degree? Would he be an artist? A song writer? A decorated soldier? A doctor, even? He didn't know and that's what hurts him the most; he should've stayed instead of leaving.

He hopes that he'd be willing to hear him out: if not for Thane's sake, then for his own.

"You okay there, Thane? You've been quiet this entire time and honestly it's kinda creepy." Tyler asks him, leaning against a wall as Shepard spoke with Mouse while Thane shook his head to bring himself out of his mind.

"Yes, I'm fine. Just… thinking about what could've happened if-" He is interrupted when Tyler started shaking his head at the man's words, him rolling his eyes as he looked at the man with a serious and firm face.

"Thane, I understand what you're thinking, believe me I do. I was thinking about how if I stayed home instead of spending the night at a friend's home when the batarians came and invaded Mindoir, then maybe I could've grabbed my dad's rifle and killed the bastards before they got to my brother and my mom. But I didn't. I have to live with that for the rest of my life, and I've accepted that what happened couldn't have been stopped or delayed at all; you're having those thoughts too huh? Trust me, I've had to live with this for years, and they say it gets easier, but it doesn't… well, it does but it doesn't seem like it. Trust me, I know what you're going through, but we're doing this to stop anything that your son is going to regret later on. Okay?" He tells him, patting him on the shoulder as Thane nodded his head, saying his thanks to the man as Tyler lets go and steps back.

"I didn't realize that you were a survivor of the Mindoir Raids. But your words speak true; thank you Tyler, I appreciate you and the commander doing this for me."

"It's no problem man; the Normandy is our home and everyone within it are our family. Even the nonhuman ones."

"A Cerberus personnel calling a nonhuman family? I don't think you really belong in a xenophobic organization." Thane jokes, chuckling as Tyler shrugged his shoulders and laughed along with him, merely telling him that he only hates batarians and everyone else is alright with him.

With the two of them done, Shepard comes back and clears his throat, causing the drell and human to look at their companion as he held a small package within his hands.

"What's up with the box?"

"It has three copies of that Commander Shepard VI, but since these things aren't functioning properly, I'm going to give it to Justin and maybe Jay, see if they can fix it up to where it works perfectly. That, and I want to see if they can find a way to get it to where it would say something that I would say within seventy percent accuracy. Though, the higher that number it, the funnier it'd be."

The three of them stood in silence; one having a smirk on his face while the other two stood there and only looked at the smirking man with a raised eyebrow/ridge.

"Fine," Shepard started, rolling his eyes and shaking his head at the lack of comments from his two companions, "I got it as a little joke for not only myself, but my mom and my sister. As for the situation on your son, Thane, a man named Elias Kelham hired him to take out someone, but since we don't know who that someone is, we're going to have to take him in and question him ourselves." Shepard finishes, placing the small package underneath his arms as he turns and heads back to the only man who they know who can help them.

"And just how are we going to do that?"

"I'm a Spectre, I can practically do what I want on this station, as long as it's on official business; which is what this is. Trust me, Elias is going to talk, whether he likes it or not." Shepard finished, flashing the two a charming smile as he turns to look at the two of them whilst walking backwards.

That wasn't a smile meant to spread happiness and cheer; that was a smile meant to spread dread and fear amongst those of which it was intended for.

Shepard was going to get his way, and Shepard always got his way.

* * *

"I'm going to ask you this one last time _Elias_: who is the assassin after!" Shepard screams, hitting Elias across the face as he uses his other hand to grab his pistol and points it right between the man's eyes.

Shepard's a little bit upset at the moment, with the man not cooperating with any of their suggestions and or questions, only giving them smart-ass remarks or telling them that he didn't have to talk.

"You see this," Shepard tells the man, activating his omni-tool and showing him his Spectre credentials, causing the man's eyes to go wide in shock, fear, and trepidation, "I can fucking _kill you_ right now because of your criminal history, but mainly because what you just said about not only my mother, but my sister as well. Tell us who the target is or I. Will. Fucking. Kill. You." He growls out, his pistol only millimeters from the man's head as Elias rapidly nods his head, his eyes wide and his chest heaving.

"Joram Talid, the target is Joram Talid! He's running for the Intendant office here on Zakera Ward. He's currently at the 800 Blocks, probably talking with some of his supporters right now. The hit going down in two hours, maybe sooner, though you'll catch him if you go even earlier." He immediately tells them, folding at the information given to him, the weapon currently being aimed at his face, and the look of pure wrath emanating from the man who was giving him all three.

"Good. Never say that about my mother and my sister again, or I'll will personally kick back and relax and drink a nice brandy as a friend of mine, a krogan-sized friend at that, hangs you with your own insides off the Citadel Tower. Let's go you two, I've had enough of this guy and he isn't worth a second of my time." Shepard tells both Thane and Tyler, giving Elias one last glare before exiting the room, bumping into the lawyer who just came through the door.

Shepard only glared at the man before continuing on his way. He wasn't worth his time and neither was Elias. He was only going to speak with Bailey, get a little more information from the man, and head to the 800 Blocks.

He needed to get his mind off of what Elias had said; for his sake, and Shepard's.

* * *

"There's our man. How do you want to do this Thane?" Shepard asks, crossing his arms over his chest as Thane looks towards the turian and his krogan body guard.

"You follow Talid via maintenance catwalks up above, Tyler can follow as well on the ground, but at a distance as to not raise any suspicions from the man. With him having a krogan as a guard, it'll be easier for you to find him amongst a crowd, especially if he makes any stops at any of the local shops or attractions; be sure to keep me updated on his whereabouts at all times. I'll be following from the shadows, watching their every move, we don't have time to stand here and discuss this anymore: Talid is on the move." Thane tells them, with Shepard and Tyler looking up at where the turian was and seeing that he was currently walking away from where he and his follower were standing at.

"Okay, I'm… where the fuck did he go?" Tyler muttered to himself in confusion, looking at the vacant spot that Thane had left behind while Shepard was climbing a maintenance ladder.

He only blinked a few times before shaking his head at what had just occurred, taking a deep breath as he patted his jacket for his credit chit.

If he was to blend in, he'd need to spend a little cash to keep the façade going.

* * *

"I see him Thane; it looks like he's speaking with some voters, probably trying to gain a bit more traction amongst them." Shepard radios Thane, watching as the turian shook hands with a salarian and another turian as the krogan bodyguard merely stood to the side, his stance suggesting that he was bored at the moment.

Shepard's radio comes to life, with Thane and Tyler confirming that they see it as well and that they are following him to the next area, with Tyler saying that he'll be giving updates as well.

"Looks like he's headed for an area that's in your blind spot Shepard," Tyler tells him, walking amongst the crowd before stopping at a kiosk and browsing for anything that catches his eye, "I'll take over your job until you've got your eyes back on him."

"Copy that, give me an update when that happens."

"What is he doing now, Tyler? And is there any sign of Kolyat?" Thane asks him, maneuvering around the backs of shops, kiosks, and other vendors while maintaining his stealthy approach.

Tyler took a look from the kiosk, glancing upwards from the terminal and finding the turian rather quickly as he and the krogan were conversing with each other outside of a small store, but no signs of another drell within sight.

"Nope, not a thing. It looks like our guy here is standing outside of a small shop though, seems as if his guard is currently roughing up the shopkeeper for whatever reason, racist dick-lick. But- oh that looks nice." Tyler says, stopping his description of what was happening in the store which prompted both Thane and Shepard to immediately question about what is going on.

"Nah nothing's going on, I just found a limited-edition Commander Shepard figurine for a hundred credits. Anyways, I don't see another drell anywhere- wait I think, nah nevermind, that's you Thane. Jesus Christ man, how in the hell did you get up there? Looks like Talid is heading out Shepard, Thane; I'm moving ahead to get a better sight of them now."

"Tyler," Shepard calls him, causing the man to stop in his tracks, "if you buy that figurine for me, I'll give you ten thousand credits."

"Deal." Came the immediate reply.

Thane was watching as Tyler purchased the figurine, a smile adorning the man's face as he followed far behind Talid, and if he wanted to find him later, he'd have to move positions as well.

Dropping down to the ground and hugging the wall closely, Thane stealthily maneuvers his way through the shadows, avoiding anything that could or would give away his position to anyone that didn't need to be made aware of his existence. Climbing onto a shelf, Thane scales the back wall of the storage room, climbing into an air vent so that he could move around without being seen on the ground level, but not before accidentally knocking down a small box from the top shelf, with the owner of the small vendor shop coming into the room only a couple of seconds after to inspect what happened.

Seeing that the box was on the ground, the human shook her head and picked it up, placing it back on the shelf but further back from the edge as to avoid the incident happening again.

"Damn stockers; always putting these things close to edge…" She muttered, stepping out of the room as she stepped back out of the room.

Had she have been paying attention, she may have noticed that the vent had just closed as she was leaving and that she wasn't alone after all.

'_Too close. I need to be better than that.'_ Thane cursed himself, silently making his way through the vents as he radios Shepard and Tyler for a sitrep.

"I don't have any visuals on Talid; what's happening?"

Shepard tells him that it appears that his guard is talking with the bartender, that it appears to be a shakedown of sorts, though a man was loudly arguing with the krogan who was causing trouble.

And it seemed as if he was winning.

"No sign of trouble?"

"None that I can see; though I'm sure trouble might start if the man continues."

* * *

"Отвали, жаба-переросток! Леди здесь не хочет, чтобы ты или твои расистские друзья были рядом, и будь я проклят, если ты снова встанешь между мной и моей водкой!" (**_Rough_ translation at the bottom**) The man screamed at the krogan, standing right up to the thug as the other patrons joined in, voicing their unhappiness with what he was doing.

The krogan decided that he wasn't getting paid enough to pick fights with a bunch of patrons, knowing that there were plenty more of them than there of him and that they'd beat the genophage out of him and put it back in afterwards.

No one messes with a patron's favorite bar or bartender; the consequences would be severe.

With them leaving, Tyler walks up to the man who shouted in the krogan's face, not backing down from the massively larger alien as he defended his favorite bar.

"I don't know what the hell you just said, but damn was that hilarious."

"Aye, the krogan is just bully with insecurities; easy to handle if you confront them, no? Anyways, I have to be off now; lady back home would kill me if she were to see me go up against another krogan." The man tells him, finishing his drink before paying the bill and leaving a tip for the bartender.

"Wait, if you've gone against krogan before, how is it that a woman scares you even more? And what is that accent; Russian? Or Ukrainian?"

"Russian, my friend. Now, my lady isn't your average lady; I may have been N6 in the Alliance, but she scares me. That, and a few others ladies that I'm friends with are scary as well. Then there's my two good male friends: one of whom will take your head clean off at a mile with any rifle, and the other who can and will tear you in half with his bare hands. Прощай, друг." He tells him, waving goodbye as he leaves the bar and heads down the street and out of sight.

That was simply the most interesting man Tyler has ever met.

The sound of grunting was heard over the comms, with both Thane and Tyler immediately reaching for their earpiece and asking what happened, only to meet silence for a few seconds as Shepard's voice came through.

"I may have knocked a maintenance worker out…"

Tyler could only snort at that.

Thane could only shake his head.

* * *

He didn't know why he wanted to do this. Was it to get back at his father? To follow in his footsteps? Because he wanted to? Kolyat didn't know. He sees his target walk past him, bodyguard in tow; if he wanted to complete this contract then he has to get through him first. Maybe load in a few stun rounds and then hit him with a tranquilizer? That would take down a krogan for a period of time.

With him mind made up, Kolyat rubbed his face once more, deciding that it was now or never, before taking his pistol out and shoving a human out of the way and lining up his shot.

Just as he was about to pull the trigger, he hears someone call out his name which makes him hesitate and lose his composure, giving the krogan enough time to push Talid out of the way and inform him to call C-Sec. After this, Kolyat shook his head and fired the stun rounds and the tranquilizer into the krogan, putting him out of the fight immediately before dashing into the apartment complex after Talid.

He didn't know how that human knew his name, but what he did know was that he and two others were following him up the multiple flights of stairs, trying to stop him from doing what he was hired to do.

He knew a flashbang would come in handy at some point.

* * *

"Almost on him Commander!" Tyler yelled, his biotics enhancing the muscles in his legs to push himself farther and faster than normal just so that he can catch up to the much more agile and acrobatic drell.

That was, until a small cylinder rebounded off the wall and directly in front of him, causing Tyler's eyes to go wide for a split second.

"Fuck me-" Is all that he got out before the cylinder exploded, sending out a deafening noise and a flash of light all throughout the stairwell, causing the man to fall to the ground and fall back down the flight of stairs right into Thane's and Shepard's path.

Upon picking the man up, Shepard looked at Thane and then back to Tyler and asked if he was okay.

"WHAT? I CAN BARELY HEAR YOU! FUCKING PUNK HAD A FLASHBANG!" He screams out, rubbing his ears and his eyes as the two of them nodded at each other.

He was fine, nothing that medi-gel wouldn't solve.

Now it was back to chasing Kolyat.

* * *

"Who are-" Talid never finished his sentence, Kolyat's fist connecting with the side of his head as he fell to the ground and froze when he seen that there was a gun trained on him.

"Get up and- and get on your knees! Put your hands behind your head, now!" He ordered him, stepping back as Talid did exactly as he was told, panicking at the thought of getting killed by the gunman.

"I- I don't know what you want, but I'll-" He is interrupted yet again when he feels the barrel of the pistol being placed directly against the back of his head, the cold metal being a stark contrast against his carapace and flesh.

Just when Kolyat was about to pull the trigger did the three people who were following him burst through the door, weapons being wielded by the armored human and the-

"No…"

"Kolyat…"

"This… this is a joke. Now. NOW YOU SHOW UP?!" Kolyat screamed, cursing as he looked at his father for the first time in years with anger laced across his face.

"Help me drell, I'll do whatever you want!" Talid pleaded, not moving a muscle as the barrel of the pistol was harshly pressed up against the back of his head.

This was when C-Sec showed up, Captain Bailey coming in with backup as he had his own pistol drawn and aimed at him, telling him to put the gun down immediately.

"Get out of my way," Kolyat told them, looking directly at Bailey and everyone else, "I'm walking out and he's coming with me."

"Kolyat, they'll have snipers outside; you wouldn't make it past ten feet before they shoot you." Thane told him, trying to reason with him as everyone stood still at what may happen next.

Except Tyler, who had dropped his pistol to the ground and calmly, but slowly, walked towards Kolyat, his arms stretched out to the side to show that he had no weapons on him and to stop the motions from Thane, Shepard, and the officers.

Kolyat had immediately raised his pistol and pointed it directly at Tyler, telling him to stop right he was before he would shoot him. But Tyler only shook his head in response.

"You don't want to do this, I can see it in your body language; you're scared, confused, but most of all you're hurt. Hurt at having to grow up without a parent; a mother and a father, one who was killed and the other who abandoned you." He started, his eyes never leaving Kolyat as he sees the drell beginning to shake.

"I know exactly how that feels, believe me I do. I grew up on the human colony of Mindoir with my mom, my stepdad, and a younger brother. I had the perfect life growing up: friends, family, a girlfriend, schooling, a place to sleep with a warm bed and a bathroom. But all of that was taken away from me when batarian slavers came and razed the colony to the fucking ground. My parents were killed within hours of the start, and I and my brother held out for days while trying to fend for ourselves. But… we were caught and I had fought back against them; in return, they punished me by forcing me to watch as they installed the control chip inside of my brother's head right there on the spot. I snapped and killed them all, my biotics tearing them apart and used a pistol I had scavenged from one of the corpses to shoot anyone else that wasn't human. Hell, I even used my own _teeth_ to tear out this one guy's throat and jugular vein and I just kept going at it with my mouth… I threw up from the smell, the taste, and the feeling of blood, sinew, and flesh that now coated my body and the inside of my mouth. And…" He paused, his voice hitching and cracking as his eyes began to tear up and his breathing getting more labored.

No one had moved or said a word while he was explaining how he knew exactly how Kolyat felt and what he had experienced. They were all just frozen at his tale of surviving hell made reality.

"I… found my brother, still laying on the ground where they had put that damned chip in… I pulled him close to me, held him tight, and whispered to him that I loved him and will always love him no matter what. I told him happy birthday, then I told him goodbye before I ended his suffering. Then that bastard, _Huran_," Tyler growled out, nearly spitting as he does so while tears flowed down his cheeks, "found me and put five rounds through my chest; _payback_, as he called it, for killing his men. If there's anyone you want to shoot, then shoot me: I won't resist." He tells him, gently gripping the gun barrel and placing it directly between the eyes before lowering his arms back down to his sides.

Kolyat had no idea on what to do: this wasn't what he signed up for, this was never brought to his attention when he was searching up information about being a hitman.

This was… someone who had experienced more pain than he has. But he was frozen in place, his arms not obeying his mind as he desperately wanted to drop the gun.

He was scared.

Then, Tyler continued.

"Right here, right in between the eyes, above the base of our nose and beneath the eyebrows lies the perfect spot to shoot a human dead. How perfect is this spot? Right where the barrel is pointing, beneath the skin and bone lies the base of the human brain and its stem. If you were to shoot any human right where you're pointing, nine times out of ten you'll sever that stem from the brain and we'll drop dead before we hit the ground: we won't flinch, we won't gasp, we won't spasm, we won't even _blink_. We'll drop dead as if we're nothing more than a sack of potatoes. Shoot me. If you're going to kill someone, kill me."

(**It's messed up to say, but this is true: if one were to sever the brain from its stem, all bodily functions will immediately cease right then and there. From the outside, it will look exactly as if someone were to drop a sack of potatoes right where they stood. The human body, for all its purposes, is a very hardy machine, but as with all machines, a simple break in the smallest bit can permanently destroy it.**)

Kolyat's only response to this was to finally drop the pistol, falling to the ground as Talid was escorted out of the building by C-Sec, with Bailey staying behind to escort Thane and Kolyat back to the precinct where they can speak with each other.

Shepard could only look at Tyler with pity as he put an arm over his shoulder and guided the silent but crying man out.

A lot of feelings were brought up today, some good and others bad, but it was for the sake of helping Thane's son, or at least that's what Tyler would tell anyone who came and questioned him about it.

* * *

"They've been in there for a while now." Shepard mused, standing up from his seat to stretch and pop his joints as Tyler laid back with his eyes closed, seemingly deep in thought.

"The boy's been through a lot. I've been searching through C-Sec archives, stumbled upon a few unsolved files: about ten years ago, a bunch of real bad people had been killed, like someone was cleaning house. The main suspect was a drell, but we've never caught them." Bailey informed Shepard, looking at the man as the unsaid question lingered in the air.

Shepard was quick with a response to the man's claims.

"Ten years is a long time, Bailey; the person who did all of that probably doesn't exist anymore, or they're dead. Who knows for sure, though?"

"Yeah, you've got a point about that."

After Bailey finished talking, the doors to the holding cell containing Kolyat and Thane opened, revealing Thane looking as if he had found what he was looking for, with his head held high and what appears to be a smile on his face.

He looked happy with what had occurred in the room.

"Thane?"

"Our problems, though we are seeing them through, aren't ones that can be solved in one afternoon. We'll keep talking, see where that brings us. Maybe then, I can truly be forgiven."

Shepard could only nod at the man's response, accepting it in its entirety.

Bailey had cleared his throat, gaining both of their attention.

"Your boy shot some people, people that I have absolutely zero sympathy with, but the fact remains that he still shot some people." He told them, bringing his hands together on top of the desk as he looks at both Shepard and Thane for anything that they wanted to add.

Shepard leaned on the desk, looking Bailey in the eyes, telling him that he watched as Talid and his thugs were shaking down businesses and threatening humans, to which Bailey told him that he couldn't just get away with having committed those crimes.

That brought an idea to Shepard's mind.

"The kid wants to make a difference: give him community service." He suggested, completely serious about the suggestion as Bailey looked him in confusion.

"Community service for attempted murder? What jury would agree to that?"

"None that I've seen. But since I'm a Spectre… Bailey, you're a good man and all, but as a Council Spectre, I'm ordering you to keep this strictly within C-Sec and out of the judiciary systems. I trust that you'll have no problems with this?"

Bailey could only laugh at that, standing up while chuckling as he shook both of their hands.

"If it were any other Spectre, I'd follow that order without hesitation. But since it's you… I'll think about it."

"Thank you, Captain." Thane told him, giving the man one final nod as Shepard went and got Tyler before heading back to the Normandy, with him following closely behind.

He's forever grateful for both of them helping him with his personal life, and especially for keeping his son out of prison. He knew that Tyler didn't have to share his history with his son like that, but it got him to stop and realize that there were other people out there who had it worse than a simple father abandoning him.

That brought a memory to him from right before he left the containment area.

* * *

"_The human, is… is he all right?" Kolyat asked him, his eyes staring directly into the table as Thane could only shake his head._

"_Honestly Kolyat, no. But he continues on, fighting for his family, living for their sake, but not forgetting who they were and how they molded him into becoming the man he is today. Humans are strange, son, but they, like everyone else, experience everything that we do: they love, they laugh, they cry, they scream, they get angry, and so on. He had it worse than both you and I, that is true, but instead of being disconnected with his soul, he found that living on with his friends and family always within his heart is much easier than simply living day by day. Take his words into consideration, learn from them. That could've been you."_

_Kolyat only nodded his head, processing the words that his father had told him within his mind, before slowly looking up at him._

"_Can we… can we pray for his salvation? Pray for his healing?"_

_Thane could only smile and nod his head._

* * *

**It seems as if Tyler had finally came out and told someone else about his past, whether it was for good or not, that is up to you. He is a hurt individual who is in need recovery, but he is well on his way for receiving it, not to worry. Other than that, a lot in this chapter had been changed and as is the case, I hope that it works out well and that it is received with positive reactions. Have a good year and blessed decade!**

**Rough translations**** for the Russian bits in the chapter:**

**Отвали, жаба-переросток! Леди здесь не хочет, чтобы ты или твои расистские друзья были рядом, и будь я проклят, если ты снова встанешь между мной и моей водкой!**

**Back off, you overgrown toad! The lady here doesn't want you or your racist friends around, and I'll be damned if you come between me and my vodka again!**

**Прощай, друг.**

**Goodbye, friend.**

**That's the end of this chapter, and as promised, the next one will be up real soon so come back after a few hours and read that one.**


	21. Vengeance with a Side of Surprise

**I did say that the next chapter would be out the next day, so here it is! If you haven't read chapter 20, go and do that right away! I did post it yesterday, so there's a chance that of you may not have seen it!**

**This is Garrus' loyalty mission, and with it some things have been changed around; not a lot of action, but a lot of story to further the plot. The ending is also a bit of a shocker and a tease, but that'll be something that you have to read for yourself.**

**Review Time:**

**Blaze: It was moody, yes, but that was to further Tyler's character and to give you all his backstory. As for Shepard, his VI's, and having a new figurine of himself, don't give the man ideas! He may just go and listen to the song as he is riding in the Hammerhead, after all...**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-One: Vengeance with a Side of Surprise**

Devin had just finished throwing up yet again, wiping the contaminated bile from his mouth with yet another rag that was soon going to be torched, as he climbs back into his small bed all the while heaving and gasping for air.

It felt as if rustlung had settled into his system and was currently suffocating him, his insides were on fire, and there was nothing he could do about it; he had taken a few immuno-boosters that Chakwas supplied him with, a bunch of antibiotics, and even began taking cold showers to lower his body temperature.

All in all, he was a mess to look at: his eyes were bloodshot, he was sweating profusely, every muscle within his body was in pain, he felt as if he was going to break a rib from coughing, he probably smelled like death, and then there was the deep, rattling, cough that happened every few minutes, then if he ate something he'd just throw it back up and almost always it had a tiny film of imulsion coating it.

He had taken off all of his armor, all of his clothes, and stood in the nude with his omni-tool activated and scanning his body's systems for what was wrong.

In short: everything in his torso was absolutely covered with imulsion.

He knew that it was simply lying dormant within his system, remaining hidden and seeping into the furthest depths of his organs while he was out and about. He should've seen it coming too, all of the signs were there and he just ignored it in favor of living a peaceful life… comparatively peaceful, that is.

He was starting to think about a future with Tulma, maybe adopting a kid or two and settling down with them as they finally got married.

'_Mom would've loved to meet her, dad too. Anthony, Benjamin, Clayton… hell even Elizabeth, even though I don't know her. Tulma would've received the customary and traditional celebration of joining a Tyran family: a large cookout with fruits and vegetables sourced from the local farmer's market, meat from the local butcher shop, all the family members from the Tyran side would be there to accept the bride or groom into their name, alcohol and cake would be served, and last but is certainly the best, a night of consummating the marriage.'_ That last part caused Devin to chuckle, ignoring the pain within his chest as he looked at a picture of him and Tulma together at the Presidium Park, laughing and smiling as they had a great time that day, as they spent it with one another.

He then looked to the picture of his family, his small smile turning into the opposite as he closed his eyes, still refusing that his family was dead and that it really has been nearly thirty years since he went missing from Sera.

He knew it was the truth, and he truly does appreciate Jay for telling him the truth, but he just couldn't believe it.

He needed to rest just for a little bit, maybe even sleep until he's needed; hopefully they would have EDI contact him instead of getting him in person, that way he can get his clothes and armor on before they see him like this.

Yeah, maybe he'll go and do just that.

* * *

"Shepard, over here!" Shepard heard, causing the man to stop and look around the area as he heard someone call his name.

Upon turning around, Shepard found that Garrus was sitting down at a booth, a plate of food lying on the surface of the table as he beckoned him over with a wave of his arm, causing the man to shrug and walk over to where his friend currently sat.

Upon sitting down, a drell waitress came by and sat a menu in front of him, causing Shepard to raise an eyebrow at the sudden appearance of the waitress and a menu, but he decided to go with it and placed an order of a medium-well steak with a loaded baked potato, a side of stuffed jalapeños, and a pint of light-alcoholic brandy.

Ever since his conversation with Elias Kelham yesterday, he's been wanting a brandy.

With his order taken, the waitress nodding and typing the information down on a data pad and leaving, Shepard leans back into the cushioned booth, resting his right arm on the table as he looks at Garrus with a raised eyebrow.

"What's the matter Garrus? You look like you were ready to start preaching your problems to me if I didn't come over." He asked the man, watching as his friend currently took a bite from his plate and a small salad that stood off to the side, before taking a drink from a glass that had a purple liquid within it.

"Well," he started, swallowing his food after he was done chewing it to explain why he had garnered Shepard's attention, "as you know my team on Omega was betrayed by a turian named Sidonis. After searching for the past few weeks, a few contacts had gathered information on the whereabouts of the man but not the exact location."

Shepard raised an eyebrow, leaning forward in his seat as he brings both of his hands up and places them underneath his chin.

"Yeah, I remember you telling me about this, but if they don't know his exact whereabouts, then how does that help us?"

"They found out that he went to some forger who's calling themselves _Fade_, terrible codename I know, and through them, he disappeared from the radar. However, Fade is very good at making people disappear, but that doesn't mean that they themselves are good at disappearing. A few friends in C-Sec, Chellik and Lamont, gave me a lead on to one of the locations where a meeting takes place with Fade and the person who is wanting to disappear, which is in a warehouse near the Neon Markets, down on Zekera Ward. It just so happens that one Castis Andronucus wants to disappear," Garrus told him, bringing an image of himself up, except with red colony markings instead of his normal blue ones, "and as with the case, a meeting has been scheduled with the man and Fade to arrange his disappearance… Know where we can find this Castis Andronocus?" Garrus asks rhetorically, taking another bite from his food and takes another drink from his glass as he looked at Shepard, waiting for the man's response.

Shepard could only smirk.

"I think I know where we could find this man, but I'd like to eat and drink my meal first. Moving on from that, have you noticed how… _sick_ Devin has been lately? I was talking to Chakwas about it recently and she told me that it seems as if he's getting the flu virus; a type of illness that humans can get from time to time." Shepard asked him, watching as Garrus nodded his head at his question, telling him that he did see him throwing up in a bucket before throwing it into the incinerator the other day.

"I just hope he's well enough to help us on this task." Garrus told him, cupping his talons under his chin as Shepard looked at him funny.

When asked why he had the look, Shepard explained since Devin was sick and currently under a lot of medication, he doesn't think that he'd be combat capable for this mission and instead asked he wanted Tulma to join instead, considering that she was there as well when they were being attacked.

"Shepard…"

"Garrus, Devin is literally running a 104-degree temperature right now, in humans that is a sign that they are very sick, and in that state, he's probably not feeling too good and is currently probably throwing up. Hell, everyone on the ship has avoided the cargo bay just to avoid catching it! Even Tyler is avoiding it, and he sleeps there too! I know that human illnesses can't infect other species, but you all can still get adverse reactions to it. I understand that you want him with you on this mission, but what I can't understand is why you _don't _want Tulma."

"I don't want Tulma because of what could happen if she uses her biotics in public, Shepard; as the niece of Councilor Sparatus, not only her credibility, but her entire family's credibility and their name will be damaged if it were to come out that she killed him. I don't want Tulma going through that, because she already gets enough shit from her uncle about her becoming a vigilante. Please… I need this John; _all three of us_ needs to do this. Besides, Devin wouldn't let an illness get in the way of fighting; it's not his style to do it."

When Garrus used Shepard's first name, Shepard really knew that he was desperate and serious: no one calls him by his first name unless it was very important to them.

Sighing to himself and rubbing his forehead, Shepard opens his eyes and calmly, but sternly, responds.

"Fine Garrus, if it means that much to you, then I'll see if I can't have Chakwas give him a fever reducer, some painkillers, and a booster shot. BUT only _if_ Devin agrees to come along."

"Thank you, Shepard."

Nodding at the response, Shepard leaned back and waited as the drell waitress came back with his order, reading the menu back to the man just make sure that it was for him, before setting it down in front of him, handing him the bill before leaving the two of them alone.

"How much?"

"Eh… fifty credits with tax added, forty-three without."

"Nice, smells good too."

"It really is. I would offer some, but your insides will liquefy if you eat this." Shepard told him, cutting a piece of his steak off and eating it as Garrus nodded.

"What is that you're eating?" He asked him, finishing his bite as he pointed at Garrus' plates with the steak knife.

"A _finiks_ steak, _kerim_ salad, and a nice glass of _raysone_; it's very good, and offers a good balance of vitamins, minerals, and proteins for turians and quarians."

"Hmm."

* * *

"Hey Chakwas, can I have some immuno-booster shots, a couple of painkillers, and a fever reducer? It's for Devin and I'm headed down there to talk with the man, but considering his condition, he might need these but isn't able to move more than a few feet before relieving his stomach." Shepard asks the woman, walking into the med bay as Chakwas was taking inventory of the medicine cabinet.

Turning to look at the man, Chakwas raises an eyebrow at first before conceding with his request, giving the man exactly what he asked for before speaking up.

"Commander, as you know he does have flu-like symptoms and is most likely contagious: as your friend, but more importantly your doctor, I advise you to wear your helmet and make sure that your filters are properly fitted and in working order; I don't want to put you on medical leave and bar you from the ground team whenever they are out on a mission, just because you weren't cautious." She warns him, staring directly into the man's eyes as he nodded at her order, not wanting to make the woman displeased as he took her minor threat seriously.

After Nihlus had been shot and was put into a medically-induced coma so that they could save his life, the Spectre had awoken shortly after they left Feros and tried to go on a mission while they were at Noveria, but Chakwas had his gear taken away, his armor locked up, and had Jenkins follow the turian everywhere to ensure that he didn't get into a situation that was more than what he was physically capable of at the time.

Nihlus was more than a little upset, and Shepard could still hear the argument that took place_._

"_Doctor Chakwas, I am a Council Spectre and as such, I can go out into the field whenever I want, despite whatever injury that may have been incurred to me."_

"_With all due respect, Nihlus, as the head doctor of the Normandy, I was merely only suggesting that you not go on any mission that the ground team is on. Now I'm ordering you to stay here, and with me being the senior and lead doctor, I am well within my capabilities of ordering you to stand down and stay within the ship. Do I make myself clear, Nihlus?"_

_Nihlus could only stare at the woman in open-mouthed shock._

"_Nihlus?"_

"_Yes ma'am." He relented, climbing back into the bed and lying down on it as Chakwas smiled to herself, knowing full well that she won the battle and the war._

(**So Nihlus is alive too, because I genuinely liked the man and his character. Shame that he got killed within the first twenty minutes of the game. So, at least he and Jenkins will make an appearance in ME3, spoilers for that!**)

"That's why I have it right here," Shepard told her, lifting his death mask helmet (**best helmet in ME2, hands down**) to show her that he had it nearby and ready to be equipped, "and trust me, I've already made sure that everything was up to code on it before coming here."

With that being said to her, Chakwas nodded her head and motioned for him to move along, knowing full well that the man was being honest with her and knew that it was unwise to mislead the woman.

She ordered Spectres around and still does so... when the situation calls for it.

Upon the elevator door opening, Shepard took a step out and made a left turn, seeing a sight that would forever be burned into his memory.

Now, he knew that the man might've been doing something to help relieve himself of being sick, but being completely _ass naked_ and _uncovered_ was something that he never wished to see in all of human history.

Shepard wasn't a "little guy" by any chance, but compared to the sleeping, naked, and sick mass of muscle that was in front of him sure made him feel like it.

With this in mind, he turns around and closes his eyes, trying to burn the image from his mind while he loudly and forcefully clears his throat, which successfully wakes the sleeping man up from his rest.

"Uh… sorry to bother you Devin, but… Garrus and I wanted you to come with us so that we can find Sidonis and deal with him. Now, I have a few meds for you to take before we go, but before we do anything; _for the love of god, please cover yourself._" He told the man, still cringing at the image in his mind as Devin laughs a little bit before violently coughing.

"Ye- yeah, right away Commander. I wasn't expecting anyone to come down here and figured that EDI would be the one to alert me of anything that needed to be done." He told him, grabbing his under armor and his boxers before putting them both on, followed by the rest of his gear.

"Sorry you had to see what my momma gave me, but where are those meds?"

Shepard, with his back still turned, only held up his left hand, letting go of the medication as Devin grabbed it and promptly took it, sighing in satisfaction as he felt the shots working almost immediately.

"So, you found Sidonis? Where is he?"

"Somewhere on the Citadel, but we're hot on his trail. Honestly, killing him isn't something that I'm comfortable with Garrus doing, seeing as how he's my friend, but what Sidonis did to you, him, and Tulma, I'm worried that he won't think reasonably when the time comes… and then there's you: if you were to confront him, what would you do?" Shepard asked him, turning his head so that he can look Devin in the eyes to see his reaction.

Devin's eyes seemed to grow darker for a moment, no doubt thinking about what he would do to the turian if he caught him, his facial features growing grim as a frown takes hold, finally looking at Shepard as his mouth opens to answer his question.

* * *

Shepard, Devin, and Garrus entered the meeting area where Fade would be waiting for them, seeing that there were two krogan leaning against the crates before standing upright as they now grew aware of who entered the room.

Upon coming to a stop in the middle, a volus came around a corner and stepped right in front of them, looking up at the three of them as Shepard and the others shared a look of slight confusion between themselves.

"Fade? You're not quite how I imagined." Shepard commented, looking the volus up and down as he mentally prepared himself for the worst to happen.

The volus took a deep breath, as is customary with their species, shifting from foot to foot as he looked and inspected the three of them.

"So," he started, coming up to Garrus as he looked the turian from all sides, "you must be Castis? I assume that these two here are your armed guards? Well then, what can I do for you, Castis?"

Garrus, already not liking the fact that he used his father's name and a different colony marking, decided to end the conversation right then and there.

"I'd rather you make someone reappear."

The volus was taken back by this response, stumbling over his words as he was taken by surprise from the request that he was in no way able to accomplish.

"Uh… we- we don't- that's service that we don't provide. I'm sorry, Castis-"

"It's Garrus, Castis is my father's name. Now Fade, tell me where I can find a turian by the name of _Lantar Sidonis_, or else we'll have a bad time on our hands, and I'm not sure if you or those krogan there could handle such a thing." Garrus told him, pulling his pistol out and aiming at the volus.

"Damn it… Quick! Shoot them! Shoot them, you lumbering mountains!" He tries to order, stepping back and almost falling to the ground as the three of them all looked at the two krogan, who in turn looked between them and the volus, before shrugging at each other, walking away from the confrontation as the volus could only sigh in both resignation and defeat.

"Why do I even bother? What's the point of hiring protection if they won't even protect you?" He angrily questions himself, now left to fend for himself against a armed human, an armed turian, and a giant of a human who now had an extremely fearsome looking rifle pointed directly at his face.

Shepard calmly walks to the volus, questioning about a client that he made disappear a while back, and that they were only after him. He took this as a chance to explain that he himself was only a client of Fade's, not Fade himself, and that he works as a middle man for both parties whenever a job comes to surface.

Devin had commented that he was basically useless to them and that they should data mine his omni-tool for any information worthwhile to their mission.

"Not yet, but maybe he'd like to us where we can find the real Fade?"

"Yes, yes of course I will! Fade is a human, Harkin I think was his name, but he works out in the old factory district, where all the old prefabs were built at the foundry located there. He's got a lot of Blue Suns working for him, acting as armed guards along with sever mechs of varying models, YMIR included, but he thinks that they're protecting him." The volus readily answered, sending them the finer details to their omni-tools so that they can confirm that he is telling them the truth.

Shepard gives Garrus a nod, confirming that it was indeed the truth before questioning the volus even more.

"How in the hell did Harkin, of all people, become Fade? Last I seen him, he was wasting away in Chora's Den as a failure of a cop." Shepard asked, scowling at having to interact with the man yet again.

Oh how he wanted to hit him right in the face.

"Well," he started, wringing his hands together as he tried to summarize the events as best he can, "he was fired from C-Sec a while back, but with his knowledge and experience of the systems, he knew how to avoid their probing eyes, made a few people disappear by using said knowledge to aide them. Afterwards, he made himself disappear, and soon after Fade was born… so to speak."

The three of them took a moment to process the information that was freely given to them, with them nodding in silent agreement with each other, before Garrus spoke up.

"As interesting as that is, I'm afraid that it still changes nothing: we still need to find him before we find Sidonis."

"I'm looking forward to seeing Harkin again."

"Don't know who that is, but I can be your henchman; you know, that way neither of you two has to do the dirty deeds." Devin spoke up, and for a moment the two of them really thought about letting him do exactly that, but ultimately decided against it.

After all, watching an event isn't nearly as fun as taking part in it.

At this point does the volus speak up once again, gathering the attention of all of them as he wringed his hands in nervousness.

"So… does this mean I can go?"

"Sure, but if we don't find what we're looking for, we'll be coming back for you."

"Oh…"

* * *

The three of them stepped out of the sky car, their weapons ready and fully loaded to deal with the inevitable conflict that they'll have with the Blue Suns at any moment.

"There he is, the bald one Devin." Shepard spoke up, pointing at the stunned Harkin as Garrus felt anger flare up within him.

"Shepard?! Garrus?! Don't just stand there," he told the three guards, nearly tripping over himself as he pointed at the three heavily armed and armored people that stood before them, stop them! Stop them!"

With that order going out, Harking turns and sprints through the door behind him, Garrus screaming at the man that he could run as long as he wants and that they'll still find him.

"Shit, it looks like he locked the doors." Shepard told them, ducking behind a crate as the three mercs opened fire at them.

"Dammit, it'll take a few minutes for me to get through-"

Garrus is interrupted by Devin throwing a couple of grenades at the door, the three mercs diving out of the way as the grenades detonated and blew it open, the three mercs leaning out of cover slightly to see if there were any other surprises waiting for them.

All they could see was a large, black armored human with a rifle that had a chainsaw attached to it standing out in the open, not caring if he were to get shot.

He then spoke up.

"Listen you three and listen closely: I'm sicker than a fucking dog right now, I have a splitting headache, my chest is hurting right now, I have to cough and I might throw up any second now. Because of this, I'm not in the mood to deal with anyone's bullshit today. That's why you three and you three only will receive this one-time offer: get the fuck out of my way, or else I'll use my rifle here to renovate your insides. Deal?"

The three mercs ducked behind cover, whispering harshly to each other as Devin waited for their response.

"_Is that a fucking chainsaw?!_" The first merc whisper/screamed to his partners, currently freaking out over what is standing less than twenty feet from them

"_I don't see the big deal about it, I mean we can handle him, right? After all, he is sick._" Came the response from the turian, leaning out for a second to get a peak at the human yet again.

"_It's a fucking _chainsaw!_ On Earth, Lavernion, they were used to basically cut trees apart, vehicles and metal apart, and even stone! Have you never seen Texas Chainsaw Massacre?_" The third merc told him, trying to change his friend's mind about going up against the sociopath who nonchalantly threw two grenades at a door that was less than forty feet from him.

Two high explosive grenades at that.

"_No… Is it really that big of a deal?_"

"_Of course it's a big deal; turians don't have to fear this thing on a battlefield, so that's why you're confused!_ Um, sir? We came to an agreement that we would like to leave, if you are still willing to do that? We won't shoot and will drop our weapons to the ground." The first merc asked, wanting to know if the offer still stood, which he received a thumbs up in response from the man as his two colleagues stood beside him, causing him to throw his rifle and pistol on the ground and come out from cover, with his two friends doing the same.

"Go on, get out of here."

"Will do."

With the three of them gone, Shepard shaking his head, and Garrus shrugging at what happened, they each enter through the remains of the door, weapons raised and firing at the Blue Suns who still remained within the large warehouse and were currently shooting at them in return.

Devin was a man of his word; he gave them three a chance to leave and let them do so, but with many more mercs within the warehouse, he couldn't give that option to anyone else here, as they had a significantly higher manpower than they did.

At least they had superior experience and skill in comparison.

"We've got mechs in the shipping containers!" Garrus called out, alerting Shepard and Devin to the new threat as a few of the containers opened up and released roughly ten LOKI mechs onto the battlefield, raising the enemy count from seven to seventeen.

Devin really, really, _really_ wanted to go back to sleep, take even more meds to get the pain to go away, and then try to find something to eat that wouldn't make him throw up.

He's sure that rustlung and gut rot, when working in tandem, kills in only three months, which is more than enough time to get finished with everything here and find a way to discreetly have surgery done to him and get it removed from his system.

(**Gut rot is something that isn't in the Gears universe, or at least not that I know of, and made it up to explain why Devin has imulsion in his stomach along with his lungs.**)

About halfway through the fight is when he feels another coughing fit start to flare up, causing him to take his helmet off and grab a bag from one of his pouches and put it to his mouth, almost immediately beginning to violently cough and spit into it as soon as it made contact with his mouth. With this happening, he had to holster his rifle and equip his boltok, firing it blindly as he tried to regain control over his chest's actions.

"Devin are you okay?" Shepard called out, noticing that Devin is yet again having another fit at the worst time possible, with him holding a bag to his mouth to prevent anything from escaping out into the open.

When he was finished, he looked inside of it and nodded to himself, promptly setting the bag inside of a small container and placing it off to the side before activating his omni-tool and firing a carnage shot at said container, completely incinerating the bag and the small container in one fell swoop.

Putting his helmet back on, Devin could only take a few breaths as he leaned his head up against the wall of a shipping container as Garrus fired at the mercs and the mechs with his sniper rifle in the background, holding up a finger to Shepard for him to give him a moment.

After the moment was over, Devin looked at Shepard and slowly nodded, reloading his lancer and boltok as Shepard could only look on with slight concern.

"No Shepard, I'm not okay; I'm sick, I've got a nasty cough, my head is killing me, my chest hurts, and I'm pretty sure Garrus is done killing these fuckers. Let's try to get through these fuckers as fast as humanly possible; I want to get out of this armor and back in my bed asap."

Shepard could only nod at his response, patting the man on the shoulder to give him slight comfort before turning to Garrus, asking the man about the situation and if there's anything that they needed to be aware of.

"Well, we've got another loading area that we need to pass through and with it comes roughly fifteen maybe sixteen mercs, and that's not including mechs. No sign of any YMIRs though, so be wary of these containers. Other than that, area's clear and we can move on up. As long as Devin is able to do so." He told them, hopping down from his perch and looking at the man with concern in his eyes.

He wanted to get revenge for everyone who died back on Omega, but he also didn't want his friend having to suffer because of it, and from the looks of it, he's suffering a lot right now and it doesn't seem as if his Crimson Omen gene is helping that much either.

He hopes that they can get through with this sooner than what he initially wanted so that he could receive medical attention from Chakwas and Mordin; the two of them would be able to get him fixed up no time, better than before. But when he was shooting the Blue Suns, he took a quick glance at Devin and noticed that the bag had blood and some strange yellow substance within it.

Could it be that thing that Grellik found within his system a long time ago?

Could that be what's causing his illness?

* * *

With Devin using his longshot to take out the YMIR, Shepard dealing with the other mechs, and Garrus taking care of everyone else, the three of them stepped through yet another doorway, this one leading into a room that appeared to be some form of office with windows that had their shutters activated. Upon activation, Shepard couldn't help but roll his eyes at the irony of his thoughts, voicing them to Garrus and Devin as he told them that he knew Harkin was a bad cop, but led him to find both Tali and Garrus.

He was now going to lead them to finding Sidonis.

Who would've thought?

"Yeah, he was always a pain in the ass. But this time, with no C-Sec rules and regulations to stop me, if he doesn't give us what we want, I'll beat him within an inch of his life." Garrus growled out, staring out of the windows as Shepard opened the shutters to them so that he can see what lies ahead of them.

It seems as if there were few Blue Suns mercs and a lot of mechs. And one Harkin sitting at the top of the control room.

"You seem to be getting a bit tense, Garrus. Are you okay?" Shepard asked him, looking at his friend with an eyebrow raised.

"Harkin may know why Sidonis wanted to disappear. If that's the case then I don't want him tipping Sidonis off and telling him that I'm here. If he does that, then I'll lose Sidonis for a long while."

"Are you still planning on killing Sidonis?" Shepard asked, causing Garrus to look at him, before explaining that he still intends to do so, especially after his betrayal caused the deaths of ten of his friends.

"It'll be quick and painless, something that the others weren't fortunate enough to get, and something that he doesn't deserve. Unlike everyone he caused to die, he'll be spared the agony of a slow death." He explained, reloading his rifle as he looks at both Shepard and Devin as Shepard could only shake his head.

When all was said and done, the three of them enters the rooms and immediately begins firing at any unfortunate merc that couldn't get to cover fast enough, being sure to take aim at the crates that were flying above as EDI told them they were rigged to explode once they drop, but soon more of the overhead drones appeared, carrying more LOKI mechs and one YMIR mech that were promptly dropped into the battlefield from above.

With Devin seeing the large mech, he equips his longshot and begins firing at it, having to shot three to four rounds so that the heavy shielding that it has equipped would fall before sending his last two shots through its head, causing the thing to erupt in an explosion as shrapnel and metal fragments fly in all directions, some shredding containers that we nearby, other embedding themselves in various parts of any unlucky merc's bodies, and a few even managed to hit Shepard and Garrus, much to their surprise.

"Jesus Christ man, I get that you want to get through this sooner rather than later, but at least give a danger close before you cause an YMIR to detonate." Shepard told him, wiping off any fragments that embedded themselves into his armor as Garrus done the same.

"Sorry Commander, but the plus side is that we only have a dozen hostiles to take out instead of twenty."

With that said and done, the three of them vaults over their cover, their rifles equipped and firing at any merc who was on the ground from the explosion, behind flimsy cover, or even out in the open. There were still a few mechs strewn about the place, but with Devin solely focusing on them, they stood no chance against the high-velocity, lead spewing, machine gun that he wielded with deadly efficiency, taking out the flimsy mechs with only a few shots to the chest area of each one.

Garrus had been calling Harkin out the entire time too, taking his time in between shots and kills to either threaten the man or to curse him, before he reloaded his rifle and continued where he left off, wanting to reach the man as soon as they could before he could warn Sidonis and/or call for reinforcements.

Either way, they were going to stop him from doing either of those things, that he was sure of.

Shepard was getting worried about Garrus, watching as he pushed forward with Devin as the two of them practically took it upon themselves to deal as much damage as they could muster, leaving Shepard to deal with the stragglers, so that they could push through the last remaining line of offence that stood in between them and Harkin.

Garrus was obsessing over this and it was starting to get unhealthy; he knew he felt bad for leaving his squad vulnerable and it ultimately got most of them killed, but to become what he has is honestly too far in his opinion. Garrus would've never let himself get to this level, even if something as bad as his old team getting killed by mercs because of a betrayal.

Did he act like this when he died?

Did he become a ruthless tactician only to stop and realize what he had become?

That, Shepard didn't know, but what he did know was that he hoped that he had enough sense to realize that this wouldn't get him anywhere.

He knows that more than anyone else…

"You were close," Harkin started, backing up to a door that lead to an escape route as he stared at Garrus and Shepard, "but not close-"

Harking had no idea on how strong this human was, but to lift him in the air with a single arm, smack him across the face with his free hand, and proceeded to throw him more than ten feet into a wall was nothing to scoff at.

To him, that was krogan levels of strength.

Garrus ran up to Harkin just as he was getting up, kicking him in the stomach to keep him on the ground, before talking to the downed man.

"So, _Fade_… couldn't make yourself disappear, huh?"

Harkin, now backed into a corner both figuratively and literally, decided that now wasn't the time for him insulting the man or deceiving him, especially with the human that threw him around like a ragdoll was now cradling a very large and very dangerous looking magnum within his right hand, seemingly ready to be used at a moment's notice.

"Come on Garrus, we can work this out right? What do you need from me?"

"You know damn well why I'm here and who I'm looking for; if you don't give me what I want, Devin here will unload a single round into each of your limbs, one in both arms and legs, your chest, and finally your head if you don't give me what I want: Sidonis. Where is he? And before you open your damn mouth to give a smartass remark, I have absolutely no problems killing you." He threatened, with him pulling his own pistol out and taking aim at the man.

Just as Harkin was about to open his mouth, Devin merely punched him right in the stomach, causing the man to double over and dry heave and his breathing to become labored and uneven.

"I just hit you right at the base of your sternum, what that means is that I just partially paralyzed your diaphragm, which is the thing that causes your lungs to expand and contract; that's why you're breathing like that. Well, you'll be breathing like that for the next five minutes, but if you don't me to start breaking ribs, then I suggest you answer the fucking question. I'm not in the mood right now to play your stupid games." Devin told the man, lifting him off the ground and shoving him against the wall as the others drew in closer.

"O… okay… okay… just stop with the beatings. I'll arrange a meeting near the 800 Blocks." Harkin tells them, limping over to the terminal as he takes a moment to try and steady his breathing.

"We don't have all day, Harkin." Shepard tells him, causing the man to grumble beneath his breath as he activates the terminal.

"Hey, it's me. Listen, I have to brief, but the reason why I'm calling is because of something happening at one of our meeting spots… yeah C-Sec raided the place. They found some data and your identity may have been on it… What I'm trying to tell you is that identity may have been exposed, now I've got an agent that you can meet with near the 800 Blocks, right next to Orbital Lounge, to be exact. Meet him there and he'll take care of the rest, got it?"

Upon finishing the sentence, Harkin turned around and seen that Garrus had a gun trained on him and ready to fire, but before he could do so, Devin merely walked past the man and grabbed the pistol from his talons without breaking stride nor looking back.

"We don't have all day to do this Garrus; let's get out of here." He told him, waving his hand forward as Shepard could only shrug at what happened.

Garrus decided that the man was right about that, knowing that they couldn't be here forever and ultimately decided that it was time to leave, but not before breaking Harkin's nose.

He did deserve that much, at least.

* * *

He sees Shepard talking to him, keeping his attention, making him feel safe.

He can see right through it.

He sees Garrus lining up a shot on one of the maintenance walkways, his modified sniper rifle equipped with a suppressor to reduce his noise output.

He can't believe that Shepard had caved in to Garrus' demand.

He'll piss Garrus off by doing this, but he'll be saving him from being branded a murderer.

"Garrus says hell-"

"Sidonis, whatever you do, don't fucking move."

Sidonis went rigid at the addition of the new voice and the person it belonged to saying his name out loud.

"Devin…" Sidonis breathlessly mutters, his eyes wide open as he turns around and sees the man he thought dead standing there right before him, looking down at him with that spirit's forsaken helmet of his, like he was some spirit of death and vengeance who came back to haunt him.

Before he could say anything, Devin had slid in between him and Shepard just in time for his shield to flare, signifying that he had just been shot.

The three of them were quiet at what had just transpired: Shepard not believing that Devin had lied to him about him wanting Sidonis dead when he asked him about his opinion on the matter, Sidonis not believing that after everything that he had done, Devin took a shot for him, Devin thanking god and the allfathers that his shields held up, and Garrus who couldn't believe that he took a shot for him.

"Sidonis, the only thing keeping you from getting a fucking bullet in the head is me; stand in front of me at all times, move when I move, and follow the exact same gestures as I do. If I lean, you lean, if I bend over, you bend over, I fall, you fall. I'm trying to keep you alive, believe me, and I don't care how much it pisses Garrus off, but I want to hear your side of this. I know our side, but I want to know why you did what you did." Devin tells him, carefully walking over to a bench and sitting down on it, looking over at the turian as he followed the same movements as him.

Shepard was upset, but he too was curious as to what Sidonis had to say, so he wanted to listen as well.

"I… I had no choice; they got to me and said that they were going to kill me if I didn't do as they say, helped them out with finding our hideout. They wanted to know our troop count, our specialties, our weaknesses, everything! I… I didn't want to die, what was I supposed to do Devin?!" Sidonis begged him, his eyes wide and showing full remorse for what happened.

But there was something else in them that Devin was trained to see; no matter the species, the gender, or age, your eyes could always tell someone who was experienced enough to see exactly how you're feeling and/or thinking.

He was lying.

"You did it to save yourself? Sidonis, I know you; if that really was the truth then I'd have move to the side and let Garrus take the shot, but we both know that wasn't the truth. Please tell me the truth, Sidonis. Please." Devin asks him, looking at the crestfallen turian as he seemed to deflate right then and there at having been called out on his bluff.

At having been called out, Sidonis' head lowers, his eyes now brimming with tears as he tried to explain what really happened, but his voice was hitching the entire time, seemingly being the only thing that's keeping him from actually telling the truth.

And then-

"Tulma and Glaz are alive; I carried them all the way to Mordin's Clinic. They don't know we're here, but trust me, they're alive and well."

After Devin told him that did Sidonis finally break, with him holding his head with both arms as he finally came out with the truth.

"They… they took my wife and my son, threatened to kill them if I didn't cooperate; I didn't want to betray you all but they had my family. I did what they wanted me to do, and they… they ju- they just killed her anyways, right in front of me because they thought I was lying, thought I was holding something back from them. They wanted to know who you were, what you looked like, what your schedule was and everything else in between. I gave them everything, and they gave me my son. I had to run; I didn't want them to find me after they were done. I didn't want you to find me, because I knew that you would be the only one who would be able to figure out that I was lying about my reasoning. Every night the dreams return to haunt, I see all of their faces looking back at me, judging me, all of theirs: Jathor, Grellik, Mayenda, Mitchell, Butler, and Mirand. All of their faces. I seen yours, Tulma's and Glaz's too, but now that I know that you're alive, well that doesn't matter." Sidonis finished, growing quiet as Devin soaked up all information that he could from the turian's explanation, silently reviewing it over and over within his mind as he starts nodding his head.

"I thought I saw a picture of your family in your locker." Devin commented, seeing that Sidonis could only huff at the comment, telling him that he left his son in the care of his brother so that he knew that he would be safe, while he tried to find a place to settle down again.

"I believe you Sidonis, I do. Now come on, if Garrus still wants you dead, well I guess there's only one way to-"

Devin is interrupted when he begins to cough, his eyes widening in shock and alarm as he desperately tried to pry his helmet off and grab another bag.

He only managed to fall to the ground after removing his helmet, with him coughing up imulsion and blood as he begins retching right there on the floor in the middle of the street, catching the attention of everyone around. Shepard was stock still as he watched the man as he began vomiting both whatever he had to eat and blood right on the ground.

That wasn't natural, but what else wasn't natural was the sickly yellow substance that was mixed within the blood.

It seemed as if it was _pulsating_, almost as if it was alive.

Sidonis was crouched down beside Devin, frantically asking him if he was alright and if he should call an ambulance, which made Shepard look at the man with incredulity as the answer was obvious.

"No shit we should call an ambulance! Garrus! Garrus, get down here right now; Devin needs immediate medical attention!" Shepard radioed the man, trying to get him to come down and forget about his plan to kill Sidonis.

"What the hell is happening to him Shepard?! Why is he throwing up blood!" Garrus screamed, jumping down from the railing and running over to where Devin currently was at and inspecting the man for any signs of him being poisoned recently.

"Garrus… I- I don't what to do." Sidonis said, staring down at Devin as the man was wheezing while face down on the ground and in the puddle of his blood-laden vomit.

"Call an ambulance and… and… Shepard he needs help right now." Garrus told him, beginning to panic at seeing his friend being reduced to this state.

"On it." Shepard said, activating his omni-tool and calling for an ambulance as Garrus stayed by his side, watching helplessly as the man vomited yet again with more blood and the unknown substance now covering his armor, face, and neck in its sickly and pungent appearance.

"It's going to be okay, Devin; just hang in there." Garrus told him, only receiving a weakened wheeze in return from the man as he slowly drifted into unconsciousness.

Needless to say, this was not how their day was supposed to end; it was supposed to be one dead turian, not a dying friend.

* * *

**Wow, it seems as if the imulsion came back to bite Devin in the ass huh? In all serious though, you can probably see what the next chapter will be about.**

**So it seems that Sidonis gets to live after all, and the reason he gave us in the game is not the truth after all; let's hope that he lives long enough to see Devin get better... or worse. (Better) Tulma and Glaz are going to be in the next chapter, and boy you can probably imagine how that will turn out, especially since our resident dextro female has feelings for the man who is currently throwing his guts and blood up.**

**I'll see you all next chapter!**

**Have a merry Christmas!**


	22. Spreading the Disease

**Hello everyone! Last week I told you all that I planned to post a chapter at the end of the decade and at the start of the next, and I am doing so right now. This chapter is one that I've personally waited to get to for a long, long time now, and now that we are here, you all get to see it for yourselves! There are two more chapters after this one that I'm waiting for, which would be Tulma's and Tyler's loyalty missions, and as with the case for both of them, I'll tell you all this right now: there will be no weapons or armor involved.**

**This chapter is about Devin's "_loyalty_" mission, one in which he finally gets the imulsion parasite dealt with once and for all! And at the end, we finally get to see something quite special indeed. I hope that you all like what's waiting for you all down there! But until then, it does get quite emotional, and we get to see the return of Glaz and the lady friend that he said he would reconcile with; you will never guess who she is or what she is, but when you find out... don't burn me at the stake please? I'd rather be hung instead, just like the Salem Witch Trials. All jokes aside, I hope that you all enjoy what happens here!**

**Review Time:**

**Mythian: Got to read and find out friend! But trust me, all will be well.**

**Captain: You are absolutely right about that. Diseases, or parasites for that matter, will adapt and change how they behave and operate when introduced into a new climate/lifestyle, and as a result, it may mutate its base "programming" to better fit with what is going on with its host and/or environment. As for how it became active and this aggressive? Well... I'll explain it tomorrow in the next chapter. And trust me, Justin will be getting a little something extra for his services, but what that will be, you'll have to wait and see... (though that little scene was quite humorous to read... maybe you should write something on here about it? If you do so, then I give you permission lol)**

**Blaze: It isn't good, no but Jay will definitely have a word with him next chapter.**

**CrazyTony: Thank you for the review! Here's that chapter you were waiting for!**

**That's all of the reviews, and as such is always the case, I hope you all enjoy this chapter and I'll see you all tomorrow!**

**PS: See if you can guess where the chapter title came from.**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Two: Spreading the Disease**

"Hang in there, sir; we'll have you at Huerta Memorial in a few minutes!" A paramedic told him, hooking up several iv's inside of Devin's arm as the man was drifting in and out of consciousness.

"GET THIS DAMN AMBULANCE TO THE FUCKING HOSPITAL RIGHT NOW!" The other person screamed, banging the back of the wall to get the driver to speed up.

"Heartrate is over a hundred beats a minute, temperature is a hundred and six, and blood pressure is through the roof; we need to get in into surgery now! Call ahead and tell them to set up a surgical room and ensure that everything is sterilized immediately, because if we don't, we're going to lose him."

With the order given, the human doctor contacts the proper channels and authorities, explaining the situation that they have currently going on and that a room needed to be prepped immediately.

Garrus could only sit in the corner and silently watch as one of his closest friends had a breathing tube shoved down his throat and various other medical equipment placed alongside him, or even in his arms and chest.

He didn't realize that only a few days ago, Devin was up and about with a smile on his face and a great attitude to match… only for the man to be reduced to this state, barely clinging on to consciousness and possibly life itself.

He hopes that his healing factor was enough to at least aide in his recovery.

Garrus is brought from his musings as he feels the human medic shaking him, asking him something that he didn't catch.

"Wh- what?"

"Sir, my partner and I are going to need help removing the armor from the patient; the doctors won't be able to operate on him unless we do so. I understand that there are rules and regulations in place that prevents you from interfering with medical professionals and their duty, but in human laws, if you were to do so, you'd be protected by the _Good Samaritan Law_." He explained, pointing a finger to his partner as the man was in the process of removing Devin's gauntlets and setting one of them down on the floor with an audible thud.

Nodding his head, Garrus stands up and walks over to his friend and gives him a glance, noticing that his eyes were closed and his breathing labored, before shutting his own and gritting his teeth as he flips the man over on his side so that he can unlatch the top latches and seals.

Hearing a distinct click, Garrus went to work on the utility belt, his mind telling him that he shouldn't feel uncomfortable with manhandling his friend and that he needed to get this done if he wanted to save his life.

He just hopes that Shepard was doing better than he was at the moment… especially Tulma.

* * *

Shepard had watched as they brought Devin out of the ambulance and into the ICU, various medical staff and other personnel either helping them move Devin onto a gurney or moving everyone else out of the way so that they can get the man to a room immediately.

The perks to being a Spectre was that he could guarantee someone being seen immediately, if he wanted them to.

Finishing his call with Joker, Shepard could only rub his head as he was waiting outside Huerta Memorial for Chakwas and Mordin, seeing as one actually operated on the man before and the other had a doctorate in xeno-biology.

If there were anyone more qualified to operate on Devin, it'd be those two.

"Shepard!" He hears someone call out, turning to see Tulma running towards the man, with a human and some alien wearing some type of environmental suit, similar to the quarians, that he's never seen before with the man, all of whom were coming to a stop as they watched Devin being carted through the entrance.

"DEVIN!" Tulma called out, attempting to shove Shepard out of the way so that she can get to the man, but was ultimately stopped by him and the other human holding her back from interfering with medical staff.

"Tulma, you can't be with him right now; it hurts me seeing him in this state, it really does, but we have to let them get him to a room first!" Shepard told her, lifting the woman into air before forcing her to the ground, with the other human helping him hold her down.

"Let go of me! He needs me, please!" She begged, reaching a talon out to the man as he weakly looked over to her and slightly lifted his hand up, seemingly reaching back for her before disappearing through the doors.

"Lady please; Devin needs help and us interfering will not make that happen. It hurts me seeing him like this, trust me, but he needs help first."

"Let go of me, Glaz! I need to be with him!"

Glaz could only shake his head and sigh, looking at Shepard with a frown as the sounds of footsteps came up to them, with them seeing that it belonged to Garrus and Grunt, with both of them carrying Devin's armor in their arms.

"Shepard, these are actually heavier than they seem, but we don't know where to put them; do you have anywhere we could store them or no?" Garrus asked him, his voice low and a far-off look in his eyes as Shepard shook his head, telling them that he didn't know of any place where they could store the armor.

That was until a new voice joined the conversation.

"John what the hell is going on here? Why do you all have a turian pinned to the ground?"

With Shepard looking up and looking at the woman who said his name, he was relieved that it was his sister Jane who was doing the talking, her rifle out and readied in case if anything were to happen.

"Jane, thank god you're here, we need somewhere to store this armor that Garrus and the krogan currently has in their arms, but we don't know where to actually keep them. Mind helping us out?"

"Yeah, you can store it in my patrol car over there," she tells them pointing at a parked C-Sec car that was only a few dozen meters away from them, with Garrus nodding his head in thanks as he motions for Grunt to follow him, "but that still doesn't explain why you're pinning a woman beneath you. You know what mom would say if she were here."

Shepard huffed in response, rolling his eyes as he explained why they were currently restraining Tulma, telling her that she cared for the man that they had brought in and that she would only interrupt the doctors as they were operating on him.

With Jane nodding her head in understanding, she asks him if he wanted her to put her in cuffs but was immediately denied, Shepard explaining to her that it wasn't necessary and that she would have to wait before anything else happened.

With Tulma ceasing her efforts to get loose, she dropped her head to the ground as tears started come from her eyes, Shepard and Glaz letting go as they helped her up and off of the ground where the unknown alien then proceeded to console her, encasing the turian in a hug as she finally couldn't hold back the sobs.

"Sweetheart, if you wouldn't mind, will you and the Commander here go and check up on your friend's condition? I'll stay here and comfort Tulma." She told Glaz, Shepard hearing her voice having a slight high-pitched chirp and slight flanging that was present in turians, but not as significant, watching as he gave a nod to her and beckoned for Shepard and Jane to follow him as they entered the hospital.

Shepard had never seen the species that the woman belonged to and decided that now was the time to ask about them.

"Glaz, I'm sorry if this comes off as rude or offensive, but what the hell was that woman?"

"That my friend is my lady friend, Yelaisa; she's a raloi, a species that was recently discovered last year. She has to wear the suit that you seen her in because of the current climate of the station. That, and she also likes its color." He explained, following Jane as she led them through the corridors to their current destination as Shepard could only shake his head.

"So what do they look like?"

"Think of a giant, anthropomorphic bird, Commander. Like one's from twenty-first century animated films and art. I think the term used for those who were into the stuff were called… animaniacs? No, that was film. PETA? No, they killed animals, not like them. Furry? I forget. But anyways, they're giant anthropomorphic birds, except they have no breasts."

(**Since I haven't found any official art on what the raloi actually look like, despite the only descriptions I could find are that they are an avian, bird, species that are bipedal and are from the planet Turvess. They wear environmental suits but can actually take them off; the only reason they do so is because of a type of flu they can get, but other than those facts, I haven't found anything citing or linking any official art or images that Bioware has put out there. As such, I decided to let them be the skirmishers from Halo. I liked the addition of Reach to Halo MCC and the skirmishers are my favorite covenant species. That and they're an avian species as well. So… win-win? Maybe?)**

Shepard could only stare blankly at the man, his eyes not blinking as the smile that Glaz had on his face never faltered for a single second.

Just as Shepard was about to open his mouth to say something, Glaz opened his and then proceeded to tell him something that would haunt the man's dreams for years to come.

"They may not have breasts, which breaks my heart a little bit, but they do have the part that all ladies have. And I enjoy putting the stuffing from my bird into that bird… Don't tell the lady I said that; she'll unleash her wrath on me." He told him, his smile instantly being replaced by hushed whispers and worried glances.

Shepard's mind broke a little bit when he heard that; his mind unprepared for the images that now infested his mind as Jane gagged in the background.

"That's fucked up."

"Please don't tell her I said that." Glaz once again asked them, coming to a stop as they were now outside the room that currently contained their friend.

"Why are we stopping Jane?" Shepard asked her, looking as she tried to swipe her omni-tool over the scanner but with each time she does it, the interface buzzed twice before turning red, signaling that it had denied her access.

"I don't know! I should have clearance to enter this room!"

"It's because a class three biohazard has been placed on that room: anyone who isn't wearing anything that has a class four filter system installed onto their armor or hazmat suit cannot enter the room. Very curious as to what caused them to enact such a protocol." They heard someone explain from behind, with the three of them turning around and finding Mordin standing alongside Chakwas, his hand held to his chin as he began muttering incoherently to himself.

Chakwas came up to Shepard and asked them about what happened to Devin, with the man explaining that when he went to confront Sidonis, a turian that Garrus wanted dead, he had an episode of coughing fits and violent vomiting, with blood and a strange substance that was mixed within it.

That was when Chakwas sighed to herself, holding her hand to head as she shook it in response to what she had been told, which prompted Shepard to ask her what was wrong.

"Commander, when I ran the medical evaluation on Devin when he first came aboard the Normandy, my scanners picked up on a type of unknown parasite that was lying dormant within his system. At the time, it showed zero signs of being active in any way, shape or form, and later on the scans showed that it was seemingly disappearing from his body. That led me to believe that his body was passing it through his system and pushing it out, and even then, it showed no signs of becoming this serious! In a single week, it went from being dormant to becoming an extremely hostile parasite that gave the man flu-like symptoms. I have _never_ seen anything react as violently as this thing has, and whatever had caused it to become this aggressive had certainly worked in causing the man to be hospitalized. From my last scans, it seems as if it had settled inside of his lungs and his stomach, which led me to believe that bronchitis and a strain of stomach flu had incubated within the man, but now I see that my estimations and guesses were farther from the truth than I had imagined." She explained, bringing her omni-tool up and sending the man, and Mordin, all of the necessary files pertaining to the thing that was currently killing their friend.

Shepard, upon this revelation, was not happy in the slightest.

"Why am I being informed of this just NOW!? If it threatened his life, I should've been immediately notified after you were done with the examination! Not when the man is currently _dying_ in room surrounded by people he doesn't know!"

"Commander, I understand that you're angry, and you have every right to be, but at the time of the scans and analysis', it posed no threat to the man; it certainly didn't pose a threat to his life either. Doctor/Patient Confidentiality barred me from telling you in the first place, and secondly, nothing like this has ever been recorded happening to any human either!"

With Chakwas done explaining herself, Shepard's headache increasing tenfold, and Mordin still muttering to himself whilst looking over the data that Chakwas had sent, Jane came up to the small group and cleared her throat, gaining all of their attention as she had explained that they only way that the two doctors could get in was if they had a hazmat suit and Spectre authorization.

"If only we had a Spectre who could do that for the two of them; _hint, hint_." She told her brother, looking the man straight in the eyes as she motioned down to a small cart that she was pushing that contained a couple of hazmat suits.

"Jane… have I ever told you how much I love you?"

"Yeah, yeah, just do what you have to do and save your friend's life."

With that said, she and Shepard handed both Mordin and Chakwas the suits, having to put them on if they were to be allowed access to the surgical room that currently housed Devin.

With Shepard waving his omni-tool and confirming his Spectre status, both doctors enter through a decontamination room, stopping to let said room do its job before entering the actual surgical room.

Shepard motioned for Glaz and Jane to follow him, seeing if they can find a room next to the one that Devin was in so that they could wait inside of it, just in case if there was any news that they should be made aware of.

He was sure to have Jane inform the hospital staff to show anyone who was looking for Devin Carmine, and if they were, they were to show them to this room.

Hopefully nothing would go wrong in the operating room.

* * *

"HE KEEPS REGENERATING!" One of the surgeons exclaimed, watching as Devin's skin was mending back together as they had cut his torso open for the third time.

Chakwas was quick to come up with an excuse to cover-up Devin's natural healing factor.

"Mr. Carmine here is a result of illegal experiments made by Cerberus, Doctor Carmichael; I and Doctor Solus here has been his personal doctors for a while now. However, the recent turn of events that brings us here are rather unexpected, but we're here under orders by Commander Shepard, the Council Spectre. He should be nearby, but regardless we have a patient to operate on and we shouldn't be wasting any time with senseless chit-chat. Doctor Solus, hand me another scalpel, ensure that it's sterilized. Oh, and while you're at it, bring me 5 cc's of anexorol." She told the man, her left hand held out for a few moments as Mordin went to gather exactly what she had asked for.

Doctor Carmichael, on the other hand, was not amused by her choice of medicine.

"You're giving the man _krogan tranquilizers_?! Are you out of your mind, doctor? That would kill him!"

"Every time Mr. Carmine has come to me so that I could operate on him, I've used this to suppress his… _unique_ ability. You want to remove the parasite from his lungs and stomach without having to cut him open every few minutes, use it. Now," she told him, grabbing the scalpel and shot that Mordin had ready for her, before narrowing her eyes at the man, "if you have any objections, speak your peace now doctor, or leave the operating room: right now, my patient and friend needs me and you're in the way of me helping him."

With that said and done, Chakwas goes back to working on Devin, making sure to swab the area where she's going to inject the tranquilizer with alcohol before inserting it, injecting the man with its contents as she begins cutting him back open with extreme dexterity and precision.

"Bonesaw; the ribs mended back together… again."

"I will worry about that, Doctor Chakwas. Continue operating on patient. Ensure that his vitals remain strong, will be very displeased if he doesn't receive the care that is owed to him." Mordin tells the two other doctors in the room, either not hearing what they had to say, or simply not caring at all.

As fascinating as it was to see such an aggressive specimen inside of a unique host such as Devin, Mordin knew that it had to be killed when it came out.

A shame too: he'd love to run tests on it.

But not at the cost of a companion… or a friend.

That was when Devin's chest began convulsing, and with the ribcage finally out, they all seen firsthand just what was happening: the parasite, which no one would name yet until after the surgery and operation was done, was seemingly attacking the inside of the stomach and ribs, but was doing so in such a way that promoted the diaphragm to spasm and contract and the stomach to lurch, which were the causes of the vomiting and coughing.

Then the EKG started to ring a dull tone, signifying that the patient is flat-lining.

Devin's heart had stopped.

* * *

Tulma wanted to look away, but every time she did, her eyes would wonder back to where Devin was strapped down on the table with Chakwas, Mordin, and the two other doctors operating on him.

That was when everything began frantic for them in the room, with one doctor quickly swapping out the iv drip for a new one, the other grabbing a set of paddles from a machine, while Mordin and Chakwas removed most pieces of equipment from the immediate area.

"What's happening? What are they doing?" She asked them, looking towards everyone else as their mouths either dropped in shock or as they could only stare on with morbid fascination.

"Guys?"

"Tulma…"

"Yes Commander?"

"Turn your head."

"Why-"

She never got to finish her sentence as her brain finally caught up with what was happening: those paddles were defibrillators.

Devin's heart had stopped.

That was when the paddles came down for the first time, with them being pressed against the sides of Devin's chest, causing his body to tense up and lift off the table for a brief moment.

That was when Tulma's heart finally broke, now seeing that the man she loved and cared about was having to be resuscitated while each and every last one of them were powerless to help him.

How do you fight an enemy that lives in and feeds off the man you love with bullets, biotics, explosions, and omni-tool abilities?

After the third strike did the doctors stop paddling him, with them placing the defibrillator back on their stand but within reach should things go awry again.

Sidonis, much to the chagrin of Tulma, was seated in the back as he watched all of this happened.

Tulma's words still ringing through his mind as she had confronted him herself.

"_You damn near got not only myself, Garrus, and Glaz killed, but you almost got Devin killed! The man who saved your ass and dragged it back into cover after a krogan pulled you from the balcony with his biotics while the Blood Pack were attacking those people! He saved your ass and you repay it by nearly killing him?!" Tulma screamed at him, punching the man as hard as she could in the face, causing him to fall to the ground as he held his face but didn't dare to move or get back up._

"_You're lucky that Devin wanted you alive, Sidonis; because if it were up to me, I'd have let Garrus put a bullet into your head."_

_With that being said, she scowls at the man before angrily turning and running into the hospital._

Glaz was a little more civil in his confrontation when he spoke with the man.

"_Glaz, I-"_

_He is interrupted when Glaz raised his hand, signaling for the man to be quiet and to let him say what he has on his mind._

"_Sidonis, I heard why you did what you did, but the sting of betrayal still hurts. You were only protecting your little one and that is admirable, but the way you did it was wrong. We could've helped you. But that's all in the past now; if you feel remorse for your actions, then that is all that matters. If Devin forgives you, then who am I to against his wishes? I personally don't forgive you, Sidonis, but I understand and am willing to work with you. After all, Devin is very sick and I'm wanting to follow his 'leads by example' point of view."_

If only there was something that he could do.

"We need to perform a partial thoracotomy on both longs, that way we can remove the affected alveolar tissue from the healthy parts without having to remove the entire lung. After the infected tissue is removed, we'll then perform a simple surgery on his stomach, rather than a laparoscopy; the reason for this is to remove the infected tissue and mass from the stomach in its entirety, rather than a little at time. Time is of the essence here and I don't Ms. Sparatus waiting any longer than she has to." Chakwas tells them, watching as Mordin and Carmichael went to gather the necessary equipment to perform both types of procedures, while Doctor Memon stayed with Chakwas so that they could begin the preparations to operate on Devin.

That was until they noticed his heartrate beginning to climb, with both Chakwas and Memon watching as his eyes fluttered open for a brief moment as he wearily looked around, seemingly confused by his current surroundings.

"Carmine, you're going to have to go back to sleep; everything will be fine when you wake up again." She told him, watching as he tried to move his mouth to respond to her words, only for his eyes to flutter once again as he slipped back into unconsciousness as Memon injected him with another sedative.

Chakwas sighed in relief at the sight of the man going back under; he didn't need to be awake and complicate anything by moving and talking. She hopes that they can get this done before tomorrow morning.

That was still eight hours away.

Eight hours of non-stop work.

* * *

"Sidonis, what in the spirit's name are you doing?" Garrus called out, noticing that the man had his omni-tool out and was speaking into it in hushed tones.

"I'm trying to save his life, Garrus. He saved mine when he didn't have to. I have a contact back on Palaven, and I just forwarded half of my wages to the man so that he can bring us something that will _save Devin's life_!" He explained, showing Garrus his omni-tool and all the information on it to prove that he really wanted to help the man make it through the operation.

Garrus, upon seeing the omni-tool, was instantly against the idea.

"NO! We don't know what that thing is capable of yet! Much less the effects it has on humans! The Hierarchy hasn't even released this medicine to the general public, so how in Phaeston's name did you get a contact to give it to you?"

"Your father."

"What?" Garrus asked him, flabbergasted and confused as to how his father was the man's contact and how he was able to get into touch with him in the first place.

Sidonis sighed, shaking his head as he took a seat in the hallway with Garrus standing over him, before stopping and looking up at the man.

"I was looking up some powerful antibiotics that would also help with getting a liquid-like parasite out of someone's body and found that inamox was the perfect medicine for helping the man. I contacted your father because I knew that he would be able to get me some, but when I had contacted him, he wanted to know how I got the number, which was from your omni-tool back at Omega, and why I needed that medicine. After telling him about Devin's condition and how if we were to get this to medical hands so that they can process it for levo use, he explained that with Devin's ability to consume dextro products, it should be able to process accordingly through his system. Please Garrus, it's being sent here as we speak and should arrive in an hour." He explained, looking at a clock and seeing that it was currently two in the morning and that the doctors were only starting to surgery on his lungs.

"Just because it breaks down foreign bacteria and parasites doesn't mean that it will work on him. Besides, why would you instantly decide that inamox was the perfect candidate? You had no idea that Devin was able to ingest dextro products before today."

Sidonis sighed yet again, telling him that he only thought of the drug because of its effects and that if they were to get some of it, then they may have been able to formulate a variant for levo usage.

The whole ordeal with Devin being dextro compatible was a surprise to the man, but a welcomed surprise nonetheless.

Garrus could only sigh at the explanation.

He only hopes that this would work.

* * *

"CLEAR!"

The sound of a defibrillator is heard, Doctor Carmichael gritting his teeth in frustration at having to use the tool thrice already, noting that even though they had cleared the stomach of all infected tissue, the lungs were by far the biggest issue as they had to completely remove one and operate on it on a separate table.

He looks over and sees that Mordin was expertly and meticulously examining every square millimeter of every alveoli inside of the plagued organ, seemingly humming to himself as he appeared to be enjoying himself as he was bobbing his head back and forth.

He wanted to say something, but since Mordin was an expert in this particular field, he decided to keep his thoughts and opinions to himself.

Chakwas was ensuring that the regenerative factor that their patient had was kept at bay, adding more sedatives when it was needed or even removing the excess flesh that would grow back regardless of her efforts.

He knew that on the outside, the woman was as calm and collected as ever; no doubt within his mind that she's had to do something like this before, just without the whole parasitic organism hellbent on ending their patient's life.

But on the inside, he could tell that she worried for the man and his current state, but not only that, but for something else.

He's seen her take a few peaks at the two-way mirror, no doubt looking for someone, or giving them empathy whenever she could find the time to do so.

He only hopes that the operation will finish within the next three hours, because if they can't contain whatever has infested this patient's body, then they'll have to quarantine this side of the hospital.

Carmichael is brought from his musings when the door leading to the operating room is opened, two individuals with heavy duty combat gear, possibly military grade, runs into the room, one of them panting as they were clearly out of breath.

The human, which he suspected was the Spectre, Commander Shepard, held out a small vial of an orange substance to Chakwas, telling her something that he couldn't quite hear, but had garnered his interest nonetheless.

"Doctor Memon, stay with the patient and make sure that his vitals remain stable; I'm going to speak with the Commander."

"Not to worry, I will ensure his health is in peak condition."

With that issue taken care of, he walks up to the two people, as the turian that came in with the man had elected to take a seat in the corner so that he could catch his breath.

"Are you absolutely certain, Commander? This," Chakwas held up the container, shaking it lightly in her hands, "is a completely unknown medicine that I have not only heard of before, but have never seen its uses in humans. Dear god, it's even for dextro species? Are you mad? We don't know what could happen if we inject this into the man!"

"I understand that, Chakwas, but this is Devin's _life_ that we're gambling with; from what Garrus and Sidonis told me, he is fully capable of ingesting and utilizing dextro food and medicine. I don't even want to know how Sidonis got it, but I honestly don't give a damn: if he says that this will work on him, then I'm not one to complain or ague about where it came from. Besides, after we inject it, you can ask the man yourself." He tells her, pointing at the turian who was now calming down and had gotten his breathing under control.

Carmichael, understandably, had some reservations about that.

"He can WHAT?! What in god's name is going on here and who is that patient?" He demanded, pointing a finger at Devin as he looked to both Shepard and Chakwas for answers.

Shepard turned sharply at the man, his visor piercing into the man's eyes as he nearly growled.

"I don't have to answer a damn question from you, doctor, and I most certainly don't give a damn what you think! You're going to grab this bottle," he shoves said bottle into the man's hands, "grab a syringe," followed by a sterilized syringe, "and use the medicine on him. Am I clear?"

Sighing in defeat, Carmichael only nodded his head, putting the vial and the syringe to good use by filling the container with as much as he can get, before walking over to one of the iv's and inserted it, squeezing the pin until there remained nothing left inside of it.

That was when the EKG immediately erupted into life, Devin's heartrate nearly doubling immediately as they all watched in morbid fascination as the turian medicine immediately began attacking the parasite inside of the man's single lung.

The results were… amazing.

Walking over to a nearby monitor, Chakwas, Carmichael, and Shepard watched as the holographic image that displayed the infected parts of Devin's body became engulfed by the medicine, with the parasite actively fighting back against the hostile invader… and losing.

They watched as the areas that had the least amount were surrounded by the medicine and were then promptly encapsulating it, seemingly holding it still and restraining it so that it couldn't move or replicate, before being dissolved entirely.

The whole process lasted thirty minutes, with the areas in the kidneys, liver, and appendix actively processing the trapped parasite and were brought to the surface of the organ, coalescing into small nodes.

Chakwas immediately jumped into action, grabbing a scalpel, some gauze, and placing a stitching set on standby as she began removing the nodes of infection from the organs. After thirty minutes of nonstop removing the infected nodes, Chakwas stepped back and placed the small container containing the parasite into a hazardous waste bag, sealing it tight as she set in the appropriate disposal bin.

In thirty minutes, they had gone from trying to get the main infection out of the man's lungs with slow success and results, to completely removing the foreign material from the least infected areas.

All because of that vial of medicine that Shepard and Sidonis brought in.

Walking up to the man, she coughed and cleared her throat, gaining the turian's attention as he stared up at her in silent questioning.

"Sidonis, was it?"

"Uh yes ma'am."

"I don't know how you got ahold of that medicine, or where it came from, but what it accomplished in thirty minutes was more than what we had done in the past four hours. Sidonis, you may have very well just saved Devin's life; now, I better see you talk with the man after we're done because I'm sure you owe it to him." She tells him, completely catching the man off guard as he began stumbling over his words.

When asked how it did it, Chakwas explained that it had sought out the organs that had little infection first and had surrounded the areas within it and had dug its way through the walls of the organ, coalescing together into small nodes that were filled with the infection so that they could then proceed to remove it.

In essence, it had made their job a hell of a lot easier, all thanks to him.

Sidonis was shocked, staying completely still as the doctor's words had hit him in full force, his mind trying to catch up to the fact that he had done right by Devin.

That he had basically helped save his life.

"I… I- I saved his life?"

"Yes Sidonis, the medicine you brought in has vastly reduced the severity of the infection and made all of our jobs easier. Now go on and get thoroughly decontaminated; we wouldn't want this thing infecting others, or else we'll be setting up beds and other homely items." She tells him, patting the man on the back as she walked over the Mordin and shared her findings with the man.

For the first time in four months, Sidonis had a smile on his face.

* * *

Everything was sore, dulled, and numb to him; he didn't know where he was or what had happened, but it felt as if someone had cut him open and rearranged his insides, before jamming them back into his chest and closing him up.

He was cold but he was sweating something fierce, his bedsheets wet from sweat, as his head was currently spinning around. He didn't know why, but he felt… better than he did before: no morning vomiting, no coughing blood, no migraines, and most certainly no bloody diarrhea.

Basically, he didn't feel sick.

Devin's thoughts and musings were interrupted when a door opened up, with the man groggily, painfully, and slowly turning his head to see who had came in. It seemed as if it was some nurse, judging from the clothes that she wore and the word 'nurse' being printed on her uniform.

He had made a wheezing sound which had caught the woman's attention, her head immediately snapping towards the man as she let out a shocked gasp, before immediately coming to him, seeing if there was anything that she could do to aide him.

"Sir, it's alright, everything is going to be okay. You've been out for a while, and no doubt that you're experiencing discomfort, but you're going to have to get some more rest; I'll go ahead and the doctor for you."

With that said, the nurse leaves the man alone, but not before giving him some water for him to drink which Devin was ecstatic about, and went to find whoever the doctor was.

He just hopes that he hasn't been under too long.

"THREE WEEKS?! I'VE BEEN UNDER FOR THREE WEEKS AND NO ONE DECIDED TO WAKE ME UP?!" Devin screamed, his voice hoarse and his throat flaring up in pain from not having been used at all in the last few weeks.

"Yes, Doctor Chakwas had elected to stay with you, as with a couple of other guests, so that she may monitor your condition if there was anything that appeared after your surgery; we wanted to make sure that you were cured of your illness rather than being in remission, after all." Doctor Carmichael had explained, scrolling through a data pad as he had recounted the events over the last three weeks to the man, but was understanding of the man's plight.

Devin was furious, knowing that not only with him being out of the fight and dropping the Normandy's ground team effectiveness in combat, but he had made Tulma, Garrus, and Glaz worried sick.

Still didn't help him with the fact that he really wanted to hit something and that the doctor had a very punchable face.

Before anything else could be said, the doors opened yet again, allowing numerous people into the room as the doctor decided that it was his time to leave, but not before saying something to Chakwas when he left.

Looking up, Devin seen that the people who entered was Glaz, Sidonis, Chakwas, and Tulma, all of whom had varying degrees of emotion on their faces.

Before he could open his mouth to say something, Tulma had crossed the ten feet that separated them in mere milliseconds, smacking the man across the face as everyone else called out to her in protest.

"Ow, what the hell was that for?" Devin asked, rubbing his cheek as he looked up at the irate, no doubt emotionally hurt woman.

"_That_ was for not getting that thing out of your system sooner!" She told him, smacking him across the face yet again, making the man raise both of his hands in surrender.

"_That_ was for being hard headed and waiting until said thing damn near killed you!"

Devin was expecting another smack to the face from the woman, with him covering his head to protect it from further harm, but was instead shocked, flabbergasted, confused, but mostly relieved that that she didn't follow through with beating the man anymore.

She had pulled his hands away and gave him a kiss, one filled with emotion and pain as she held onto his head tightly and firmly, almost afraid of losing the man if she were to let go.

"Okay everyone, I say we give them room and privacy; this is something that we should not see." Glaz told the others, extending his arms out and corralling the others out through the door, before closing it behind him.

When Tulma had let go, she started to tear up again as she looked at Devin, her eyes expressing genuine fear and pain over what had happened to him prior to the man waking up.

"_That_ was for making me worry…" She trailed off, her voice barely above a whisper as Devin pulled her into an embrace, kissing the woman that he had feelings for, gently squeezing her so that she knew that he was never going to leave her.

"I'm sorry Tulma, I really am; I had no idea on how the imulsion became active and that aggressive, but that doesn't matter now. All that matters to me is that I have you right here with me. I… I love you Tulma, I've always had, since the day that I thought that I would've lost you. I don't want to think about what would've happened to me if you and Glaz would've died back on Omega, but I'm glad that you're here with me now." He told her, holding her tightly as she climbed into the bed with the man, content with being within his arms.

"I… I love you too, Devin. Does this mean that we're a thing now?" She asked him, causing the two of them to softly laugh as he could only think of one thing to say.

"Yeah, I guess we are a couple now. However, I don't think your uncle will appreciate the thought of someone of your social status and image being with a dumbass human like myself."

"What he thinks doesn't matter to me, though… my mom will have to accept you into the family, name and all if you're serious about this relationship as I am, that way you'll be seen as being a part of the Sparatus family clan." She giggled out, watching as Devin could only shrug at the comment as he put his head over top hers.

"I'm fine with meeting your mom, she sounds like a lovely lady."

"That she is Devin, that she is." She hummed, content with being in the arms of the man she loved.

All was finally right her life, now that she was with him at last.

* * *

"So how is he Chakwas?" Shepard asked, walking up to the woman as he noticed that everyone was gathered outside the window, staring into it.

"Well Commander," Chakwas started, waving the man over to the window and she stood there with a soft smile on her face, "I believe that Devin will be just fine, now that he's finally opened up to others. I believe that he is fully committed to your cause now, and to whoever gets in his way, I'd hate to be there to witness what would happen." She tells him, sitting back down as Shepard could only smile at the sight.

It seems as if love is in the air after all, and it seems to have infected both Tulma and Devin.

Oh how he'll have a lot of fun taking them on missions with each other, just to see their reaction's when he begins teasing them about it.

Maybe he should bring Kasumi along with him when it happens?

* * *

**And that wraps up this chapter! Devin is finally cured of the imulsion parasite once and for all! Not only that, bu there were some harrowing parts in the chapter that sure gave our protagonists quite a scare, though everything turned out just fine in the end there. ****Especially with Tulma and Devin finally confessing to each other and becoming the love couple that we've always wanted them to be. Maybe, I don't know what you all wanted in the beginning.**

**So Glaz is with a raloi as his lady friend now, and I stand by my description of them being the skirmishers from Halo Reach. I know what the internet has about them, and I wish I didn't, but that still doesn't change my mind about the raloi looking like them!**

**As for the imulsion? That topic will be brought up next chapter when Devin asks Shepard about what happened to it while he was under.**

**One last thing, a few missions has happened since Devin has been under, but those will be shown and explained next chapter; partly because I think it'll make a good plot device and that I'm also a little bit lazy...**

**I'll see you all tomorrow with the next chapter and I hope that you all have a Happy New Year's Eve and the last day of the decade!**


	23. Making up for Lost Time

**Happy New Year, everyone! 2020 is now upon us at last, and it'll stay here for another 3,649 days, which is ten years. Weird intro, I know, but as promised here is the next chapter that I said that I would put out for all of you to read and enjoy.**

**Basically, the chapter here is a filler chapter meant to catch Devin up on recent events and what everyone has been doing since the man has been under. As stated last chapter, a few missions were skipped for plot convenience (and laziness), but a lot has happened in that time.**

**Devin received major armor and weapon modifications that basically turns him into a walking tank; thanks to CaptainDickScratcher for helping get an idea on what should be added! You're awesome!**

**Review Time:**

**Wolves: Well, since Jay grew up in a time when that stuff was basically rendered extinct, it'll be hard for the man to explain how it functions and behaves when it is introduced into a host; you can only learn so much from books and notes, you know.**

**Connor: That he does, brother; FOR THE EMPEROR AND HIS ETERNAL GLORY!**

**Captain: That subject will be brought up in the sequel of this story, but yes: even with the amount of news suppression, tidbits of information will spring up here and there, and when that happens, more and more will be brought to light. At least Shepard was able to do SOME damage mitigation, just to help the man; you'll see. And it's a shame that we never see these new/cut species in the games, and I don't count anything that mentions them either! Either put them in or don't; don't just leave us in the dark with how the game could've turned out if something was added instead removed.**

**Blaze: You will see him do that in this chapter.**

**Mythian: You're right, they will; but they'll let the man heal up first before doing so.**

**With reviews answered, I hope that you all enjoy this chapter and have a wonderful day!**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Three: Making up for Lost Time**

Devin was upset at the moment, staying quiet as the paperwork for his release were currently being processed, but thanks to Shepard using his Spectre status (something that Devin was aware that the man had used a lot of during the time he's been under), he was able to fast track it through their systems with little interference.

The man at the front desk was reading over everything one last time, ensuring that there were no details left out or were misinterpreted, before nodding his head in satisfaction as he looked at Shepard with a smile on his face.

"Well, everything seems to be in order from the look of things here; all that remains is to finalize the paperwork with a signature." He tells the man, offering him a data pad which Shepard accepts, signing his name and glossing over the details briefly before handing it back to the man.

"Have a good day and if anything comes up about your condition, Mr. Carmine, don't hesitate to come back here for one second."

"Will do doc, take care." He told him, giving a partial wave as they left the hospital and began making their way back to the Normandy, with Devin happy that he's finally out of the place and getting back into the fire.

Now, only if he was able to leave the damned wheelchair for a moment so that he can stretch his legs and move around.

"Can I get out of this thing now? I'm a grown ass adult and-" Devin was interrupted by Shepard, with the man cutting him off before he could finish the sentence as he began to explain why he shouldn't leave.

"No, Chakwas and Carmichael both agreed that you should stay in it for a day or two at most, that and you'll be off the ground team for at most another two or three weeks, depending on the fact if you're healed or not." Shepard immediately told the man, making sure to hail a wheelchair accessible cab so that he, Tulma, and Devin would be able to catch a ride to the Normandy's docking bay instead of having to traverse the wards on foot for several miles.

Not only would that be a waste of time, but Shepard was sure that Devin would've probably snapped and hurt someone.

Not that he could blame him.

He wonders what Tali's opinion on the man would be, wondering how she would view the man who could easily take on krogans and win.

'_Something to look forward to, I guess.'_ He thinks to himself, climbing into the cab as the others followed behind.

It'll be interesting to see, nonetheless.

* * *

"Keelah… what in the hell is _that_?" A woman said, her voice in awe and confusion at the sight that currently has her attention.

Tali could only stare in curiosity at the hulking mass of armor that was set up within the armory in the far back corner; taking notice of its deep black color scheme, bulky build, hefty mass, and foreign concept of the design was alien to her.

That and the skull that lies within a cog was a strange thing to her.

It looked like something that Jackson, the rather tall human that hangs around the second level of the ship, would wear, but not quite fit into it.

The helmet was even more curious to her, with a distinct human build, the same color pallet as the armor, and deep blue visors that were placed only where the eyes were, instead of across most of the faceplate.

Not an uncommon thing, as there were several companies that made several varieties of helmets that followed this concept, but with the way this particular helmet had it implemented was just… different to her, for some reason.

Her thoughts are interrupted when she hears someone clearing their throat from behind her, startling the girl as she turns around sharply to see who it was, but breathes out a sigh of relief when she sees that it was only Justin, the rather… eccentric, to say the least, human engineer.

"I see you found Devin's armor after all this time. I was wondering how long it'd take you to do so, but better late than never huh?" He asks her, leaning along the side of the workbench that he himself preferred to be around (considering all that he's put into it, who could blame him?).

Tali actually thought that Justin was a figurative breath of fresh air, with him being one of the very few people that could actually understand what she was talking about when it came to engineering and mechanical knowledge and even add on to what she was explaining.

It reminded her of Engineer Adams a couple of years back.

"I'm sorry, but I don't I met this… _Devin_. At least, I'm not sure I have. Anyways, why is his armor this massive? It looks like it could stop a carnage shot, or even a claymore shot at near point-blank."

"Well… that's because it _can_. I see that your confused, so allow me to clarify: Devin is a human unlike any other that you've seen, he is larger than everyone, stronger than everyone, he can take hits from krogan and other heavy hitters and get back up and return the favor with extreme vigor, and his weapons… oh dear god his weapons are simply the results of an expert weaponsmith and a sociopath who had way too much time on their hands to find a more fulfilling career in their life.

His assault rifle, which I have modified but will not reveal anything until the man comes back and sees what I've done here, fires an old ballistic round the size of the tip of your thumb… well the human thumb, that will absolutely mulch someone's insides as if they were butter. That and it has a literal damn _chainsaw_ as a bayonet that the man is more than comfortable with using. And that's only for his rifle: he has a shotgun, a monster-sized magnum, and an anti-life rifle."

"Anti-life?" Tali asked, her head tilted in confusion at the strange comment that he had made about a weapon.

Well, the entire explanation was rather bizarre because of all of the weapons firing old, chemical propellant-based ballistic munitions, but that was an odd phrase to describe a rifle.

"Well I call it that because it fires this round," Justin starts, grabbing a bullet from an ammunition container before placing it down on the workbench to show her its size, "out of the barrel, and from the dimensions of the caliber, the size of grain that it has, and the type of rifle used to fire it, it could very well shoot straight for well over a mile, maybe even two. That, and this round is indeed slower than that of modern sniper rifles, but the amount of kinetic energy, ballistic dispersion, and trauma this thing dishes out is absolutely nightmarish to witness. If you were to get shot by this thing, Tali, it _will tear you in half._ For anything larger, like krogan or even some of the collector troops, it may take two rounds to completely finish them off, maybe more. Here, it's better for me to show you than to explain it." Justin tells her, bringing up a video that he got from Garrus on his omni-tool, sending the video to a nearby monitor so that she could see the weapon's capabilities for herself.

She turned and stepped closer to the terminal, watching as it was a video from Garrus (evident from the fact it had his name in the upper right-hand corner of the screen) holding a very foreign looking rifle as he was taking aim at a collector. What happened next shocked her; when Garrus was finished taking his time to adjust his sights on his target, he fired the large weapon, watching as the recoil forced the weapon to slam into his shoulder, causing the turian to curse in pain as he muttered to himself while looking back to the collector that he had shot.

"Keelah…" Is all that she could say, seeing the collector's entire head and a little bit of its torso was reduced to near nothing, with the viscous blood-like material staining the wall and ground beneath it as the wall had a very noticeable hole punched into its side.

It looked as if an asari commando had used her biotics to shred it apart.

Tali could only stare on in morbid curiosity, much to her own chagrin, at the devastating power that the rifle could dish out with an outdated ammo type.

Before any more could be said, the doors to the armory opened, revealing Tulma, whom Tali had met a few days ago, and a man with dozens of scars adorning his arms and some of his face being pushed in what seems to be a wheelchair.

Just looking at the man, his facial expressions showing that he was either not amused or upset, with his body expression showing the same.

"About fucking time I'm back on this ship, being in a hospital is terrible. Not that I don't like them, but I don't like being _in_ them Tulma; too many bad memories." She heard him tell the turian, with her laughing at the remark as she wheeled him closer to his armor and gear, as per his request.

Justin, as usual, was happy to see the man, throwing his hands up in the air in celebration that one of his friends are back home and better than before.

"Devin, glad to see that you're back and ready to kick ass; I knew that some diseased parasitic thing wouldn't keep you down for long!" He told him, laughing at his own comment as Devin shook his head in good fun, seemingly in a good mood at the sight of the young man.

"Well my heart did stop two or three times, yes, but as you can see here," he gestures to what he's sitting in, "I've gotta stay in it for a day or two. If my old drill sergeant were to see me now, he'd make fun of me and call me a part of the 'mechanized infantry'."

(**True story, actually: while I was in basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia, we had a couple of trainees who had gotten hurt in the company, maybe around six or seven I don't remember, and they received crutches to walk with. My drill sergeants, all twelve of them, would make remarks and comments that how those with the crutches were called mechanized infantry and that they were at the wrong training unit. All in all, it was funny and we all had a good time, mostly, and it was just one of the few and rare tame insults that we would be called.)**

Shaking his head to get his mind back on track, Devin noticed that there was someone new on the ship, a quarian woman that he's never seen, probably, and pointed at the woman, gaining her attention by doing so.

"Yes?" She asks, fidgeting her hands together as she somewhat shrunk back at the gaze the that the man was looking at her with.

The type of gaze told her that someone was sizing her up, seeing what she was capable of and if they were a threat to security.

It was a look that she's received before on numerous occasions.

"Apologies for my ignorance, ma'am, but I don't believe that we've met. I'm Devin Carmine, but call me Devin; it's a pleasure to meet you." He tells her, reaching a hand out in greeting as he smiled at her.

Tali was taken back by the man's mannerisms, with her perceiving the man to behave more like a krogan in how he acts and treats everything, given the information and preconceptions that she had gathered from all that Justin has shown and told her about the man.

She was vastly far from that hypothesis.

"Uh… well it's okay Devin, I was just curious about your armor here and wondered who it belonged to. I've never seen anything like it before; not in the Alliance, the Citadel Defense Forces, even Cerberus." She told him, gesturing to the armor that was behind her and, causing the man to nod understanding at her response.

"Yeah, it's basically the only one of it's… what in the fuck?"

Devin wheeled himself closer to his armor, with Tali and Justin moving out of the way, running his hands over the surface of the chest plate as he could only wonder what happened to it.

At first glance, he didn't see anything that was off about it: it had its same color pallet, was just as large and intimidating as before, and his helmet looked no different.

That was a very wrong observation that he made.

The armor had been improved, from the looks of it: new plating could be seen in places that were either worn down or damaged from before, with the under armor being redesigned entirely to that of a hardsuit that seemed as if it would be able to withstand a vacuum for a set amount of time. The chest piece now covered not only the chest, but there was another layer of armor added in the belly area as well, seemingly made from the same exact materials that the rest of his armor was made from. The sides where his armpit and the sides of his chest now had a layer of armor protecting it, covering the hardsuit and protecting it from harm.

His leg armor had been beefed up as well, with the addition of more armor that encompassed the entirety of his thighs and shins, but with the addition of the extra protection, Devin was sure that he wouldn't be using as much medi-gel as he would normally.

And finally came the helmet, with the man lifting it up and looking it over, turning it around and around within his hands as he could only stare at it in both confusion and curiosity.

It looked as it could take more punishment than before, with a newer, streamline design that was both easier for him to work with and to maintain whenever the need arises.

When he put it on, he seen that the HUD had changed as well, though only slightly: there was an addition to its base functions of sight optics, with the thermal and nightvision came the addition of a tracking mode that would help paint targets for others to see and be aware of. Not only that, but the addition of a better oxygen canister that was not only easier to use, but more efficient was a very welcomed sight.

Devin took his helmet off looked at Justin, his eyebrow raised in silent questioning as he set it back down on the table and gestured to both sets of armor, with him nearly speechless about what had happened to them while he was out.

"This couldn't have been only you; you had to have some help."

"That I did; Jay and Jacob helped out a lot with the overhaul and upgrades, and it took the better part of two weeks, give or take a day, for us to finish it entirely. Your armor can now stay in a vacuum for an hour at most, and with the addition of more armor plating, you'll be able to live up to the role of being the squad tank. Not only that, but we added mag plates to the bottom of both boots that uses a _very_ strong neodymium magnet that will hold you in place or keep you from falling. I think Jacob said it could carry over nine hundred pounds of weight before failing, so there's no worry there. And we took the liberty of adding a hardsuit that now acts as your under armor with a much higher damage threshold. After we were done with the armor, we replaced the shield emitters with the one's that Spectres use so that they can take a hellish amount of punishment. But with modern equipment and materials, we kept the weight roughly the same as before, with it now weighing roughly… twenty to thirty pounds heavier. But with what you can do, I wouldn't be shocked if you barely noticed." Justin explained, bringing up a graph and list of all modifications that they had made to his armor while he was in the hospital.

He was now truly at a loss for words, with him trying to wrap his mind around the fact that they were able to accomplish all of this while he was gone and had it finished before he woke up.

Then Justin told him something that instantly got his attention.

"We also modified your weapons even more. Now, they're better than ever!"

"Show me." Is all that he said, eagerly wanting to see what had been done to his weapons.

If it was even a fraction of what had been done to his armor, he was definitely going to enjoy this.

Justin, with the help of others, made it to where his lancer was now equipped with a monomolecular chainsaw blade that was made from a titanium-steel alloy that was infinitely better than what he had at the moment, along with other minor upgrades to the recoil stability, magazine well, and the bolt carrier.

Basically, it could shoot at full auto or burst fire with the flick of a selector switch, it could cut through damn near anything, and the recoil was compensated even more-so than before.

His longshot had received numerous upgrades, ranging from a better scope that could connect to his helmet's visual feed, it now had a bipod at the end which would virtually negate rifle sway, the barrel was threaded so that he could equip either a muzzle break or a suppressor, and finally they had redesigned the entirety of the bolt carrier and firing mechanism so that it could actually take rounds from a magazine instead of having to load a single round into the breach every time you wanted to fire.

With its new magazine, it could have five rounds in reserve and one in the chamber, totaling to having six shots maximum instead of the standard one.

He was happier beyond belief.

Not much was changed about his gnasher, having only been refitted to house an additional two shells per load, the materials being swapped out so that it was made with a heavy-duty frame and high-strength steel for the outside casing, meaning that Devin could crack a few more skulls than before.

With Justin and Tali leaving, Jay comes up to Devin and asks the man if they could speak privately, to which the man nodded and asked Tulma if she could leave them be for a few minutes.

With them finally alone, Jay begins his questions.

"That thing that you had in your system, was that… was that imulsion?" He asked him, sitting in a chair so that he could be eye level with the man.

"Yes it was, I figured it'd been clear to you exactly what it was as soon as I began coughing it up."

"Yeah, imulsion hasn't been around for the last thirty odd years, so excuse me for not recognizing it sooner as I have only seen it textbooks and pictures. Devin… what in the hell were thinking? You should've gotten this thing taken care of sooner rather than later and look where it got you! Almost fucking dead! I never seen anyone go lambent before, but from what I've seen from videos of your surgery, it damn near looked like you were getting there! I'm not preaching at you, but waiting this long has to be quite possibly the most idiotic thing an Onyx Guard has ever done! We're supposed to be the best of the best! Now because of what happened at Huerta Memorial, news about a human with dextro compatibility, krogan regeneration, and an unknown parasite are running around the extranet like a rampaging windflare! Shepard had successfully redacted your name from ever being mentioned, but he couldn't stop the rest of it from being released. Now, because of what happened, you're no doubt going to be questioned about what in the fuck just happened to you and how you're able to regenerate, among other things." Jay told him, his face set in a frown as he stared at Devin while the man was soaking up everything that he could to prepare himself for the oncoming shitstorm that would surely head his way.

From all the points that the man brought up, Devin knew that he had a point; he should've had the imulsion dealt with earlier so that he could've avoided everything that was now happening.

All of this was avoidable, but he was too scared to seek help about it.

Before leaving, Jay took one final look at the man as he stood up, his eyes softer than before as he could only shake his head at the man.

"It's okay to be scared, I've been there before, but if we are going to survive here in this second chance that we've been given, we need to actually go out and seek help! We may be gears, we may be larger, stronger, faster, and overall deadlier than any normal humans here, but that doesn't mean we're invincible; we can still die, even if we have the Crimson Omen gene within us. And don't worry about EDI spying on us; I set up a jammer here that scrambles our conversation, though it'll only last for a few more minutes at best. Just… just think about what happened here, and try not to make the same mistakes."

With that being said, Jay finally left the room, leaving Devin alone and with his thoughts, stuck within them to see if there could be anything that he could think of that would immediately better not only himself, but the crew overall.

Maybe he should get some more schematics from his data chip? A oneshot would come in handy, after all…

* * *

"Devin, glad to see that you're still able to maneuver around in that contraption of yours." Shepard calls out, gaining the man's attention as he noticed Shepard sitting at the table in the mess hall, eating whatever was on his plate.

Rolling his eyes, Devin wheeled himself over to the man, stopping beside the man and locking the wheels in place so that he wouldn't move around while they were speaking to one another.

"Yeah, it's weird but I've been through worse."

"No kidding. But about that, how did that thing get into your system?" Shepard asked, eyeing the man curiously as he took a drink from his small glass, patiently waiting for Devin's response.

Devin could only shrug at the question, not really understanding how he had been infected by the imulsion, seeing as how he tried to keep his distance as often as he could when he was back on Sera.

Not that Shepard needed to know that, of course.

"I truly don't know, Shepard. But I'm thankful to be here and having that thing out of my body. But other than that, what all happened while I was under? I noticed that we've got a quarian with us now and she sure as hell wasn't here when I was around."

Nodding his head, Shepard confirmed that they had left sometime shortly after they finished surgery on the man, having to go out in the galaxy to complete a few missions and even recruit one of his and Garrus' old friends, Tali, who was the quarian that he had seen with Justin when he first came back.

He explained that he had to investigate a relay that would allow the reapers to invade the galaxy months sooner than what they had planned for, but he had been captured and put under for a few days due to it being a solo stealth mission. After waking up, he tried to warn a batarian colony to evacuate the system, before an asteroid would destroy the relay and take out most of the system with it. With the relay's destruction, they bought the galaxy nearly half a year of time at the absolute most or a few months at least, which was a lot longer than the one or two weeks that they originally had.

Devin consoled the man, patting him on the shoulder as he could tell the man was obviously hurt from not being able to save the colony in time, knowing full well how something like would feel.

He's failed to evacuate entire cities and small nations before himself.

"After I came back, we decided to go and rescue Tali here, so that she could join us on our mission. She may have some doubts about people on the ship, but that'll pass. Trust me, I've been there myself. Just give her a week or two to come around, I'm sure that she'll come to see you as a friend. Other than that, Jay posed as a man named Solomon Gunn, a weapons merchant based out in the Terminus and Traverse, which it was supposed to be me instead, but considering that I'm famous and everyone practically knows my face, that was an obvious reason why I couldn't go with them, so that Kasumi could pull of a heist against one of the richest humans alive. I'm glad that she found what she was looking for and that the sleaze bag was killed; douchebag deserved it. And finally, Zaeed got the consolation that he was looking for; we went to Zorya to find the Blue Suns leader, Vito, and killed the man, but we also had to save a lot of hostages in the process. I figured something like that was going to happen, but thankfully I went with my gut and brought an extra pair of hands so that two people could do the rescue and the other two could put a bullet in the man's skull… I don't know how I knew that there'd be a choice like that…"

Shepard trailed off at the end, rubbing his chin as he tried to recall how the information was present within his mind, but not actually knowing how said information got there in the first place.

Maybe someone out there was aiding them in the shadows, sending them telepathic information as if they were a deity of some sort?

Could it be a rogue reaper?

Shepard immediately dismissed all of those thoughts, shaking his head to get rid of the crackpipe theories before they firmly settled within his mind.

He was already crazy enough, so the addition of bizarre theories and ideologies was going too far.

Devin had asked him about what had happened with the parasite that they removed from his body, his tone and facial expressions dead serious as he looked into the man's eyes, waiting desperately to hear his response.

"That thing? Well, after it was removed and everything was either quarantined or incinerated, I had the pleasure of deciding what happened to the thing: either destroy it or study it. A Cerberus spook," Shepard said that with clear distaste in his mouth, "had the audacity to demand me to hand it over to them, saying that something like this would benefit mankind and that it should be saved. I personally threw everything that had been in contact with it in the incinerator, telling the man that it was too dangerous to be left alone in the hands of human extremists. Don't worry, it's gone forever."

That was a load off Devin's mind, with the man nodding in satisfaction at Shepard's actions, being forever grateful that the imulsion wouldn't get replicated.

If the reapers or collectors got a hold of it, then it would be game over for everyone.

"Oh yeah, one more thing; I went by my old home that I won from Admiral Ahern and grabbed a few of my old Spectre weapons."

"So?"

"They hit harder, fire longer, and have unlimited ammo, not only that, but they're also easier on the eyes too." Shepard told the man, smiling at having his babies back on the Normandy and that they're still in mint condition.

Oh how he's going to have so much with them.

* * *

"So Tulma~ I heard that you and the big guy are finally together." A voice softly said behind the turian's head, with said turian nearly choking on her drink at the shock and surprise of seeing the resident kleptomaniac standing only inches away from her.

"Kasumi! You damn near gave me a heart attack!" She angrily told her, nearly growling at the woman for the loss of her drink as she used a nearby washcloth to clean the mess off of her.

Kasumi merely waved her off, her smile still remaining firmly on her face as she ignored the irate turian, electing to continue on with her game of picking fun at the woman.

"Relax sweetie, I'm only curious. So… you and Devin huh?"

Tulma's attitude was immediately replaced with dread as she was beginning to follow along with what the woman was doing.

"Uh… yes?"

"Remember our little agreement from a while back?"

"Please…" Tulma tried to beg, weakly shaking her head at the woman at wanting to have a moment of rest, but from the look on Kasumi's face, she wasn't going to get any.

"I'm waiting any day now. But I've got a present to give to Justin and a few people who are currently working out that I need to spy on, so I'll be seeing you later, Tulma; just don't forget to use protection as I'm sure you'll be needing it~!" She sang out, quickly disappearing before Tulma had a chance to stop her, causing the woman to groan out in mild despair as she hit her head on the table.

It was at times like this that Tulma wishes she would learn to keep her mouth closed from time to time, knowing that whatever she says could backfire against her immensely.

But for hers and Devin's sake, she was willing to endure all of the torment that the thief was going to give to her, knowing that it was only in good fun.

At least, she hopes it was; there was no telling how much chaos the woman was capable of bringing, especially on a ship with this diverse of a crew.

She only hopes that everything will settle down soon.

Only if she knew just how wrong she was…

* * *

**That wraps up this chapter! Now, the next one will be out next Monday as usual, but with a twist! It's a two-part chapter that spans the Shadow Broker dlc, and with it we'll see what the yahg has learned about our protagonist, and what Vasir has to say about them when that time comes. I'm curious myself to see where this leads us.**

**Other than that, not much else to say besides the fact that I hope you all have a great day and that I'll see you next time!**

**PS: what are your all's opinions if Bioware/EA made a Mass Effect game based on the First Contact War? Personally, I'd enjoy the shit out of it; especially if it had a co-op campaign.**


	24. Who can Break a Shadow?

**Hello everyone, sorry for not updating last week as I had planned; I was, at the time, suffering from strep throat and it came with a migraine that really impacted my writing efforts. Not only that, but it eventually turned into full on bronchitis, which is infinitely worse. As I'm typing this, I'm currently coughing my lungs out through my throat.**

**Not fun.**

**Moving on from my plague filled life, the chapter is the first part of a two part chapter involving the Shadow Broker and our glorious team of ****protagonists, and as with most chapters, a few things have been changed to better fit the story and everyone's character.**

**You'll see.**

**Review Time:**

**Mythian: He will be, but only for the next two or three chapters, don't worry; though he'll be eager to get back and into the fight as soon as he can.**

**Captain: You've made a good point there with the whole time travel conundrum, hell Sera _could_ be in the galaxy somewhere beyond a dormant relay or even in the dead zone that humanity was in (the Orion Cluster). As for the prequel game, I was thinking about a type of game that we could choose to play as either Hannah Shepard, David Anderson, Stephen Hackett, or even someone else entirely. I thought that the multiplayer would involve things like asset denial for the humans, capture the objective for the turians (similar to the war game mode on COD WW2) or even a full on ground war that Star Wars Battlefront 2 has going on. Just food for thought, in my opinion, that would be neat to see.**

**Shawnmed: Fixed the issue, thank you so much for pointing that out for me! I immediately went back and solved the issue after you made me aware of the problem!**

**Blaze: That is something you'll have to see later and a multishot longshot would've been devastating in the games, if they had made it (technically, there was the relic longshot from Gears 5 but we're not counting that). Don't worry, there will be plenty of interactions and allusions to what happened.**

**That's is all for the reviews and I hope that you all enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Four: Who Can Break a Shadow?**

Shepard was just having another normal (for his standards, at least) day on the Normandy: Jack threatening Donnelly for making a pass at her, Daniels smacking the man upside the head for making said pass, Tali wondering why she was with a couple of eccentric people on the engineering level, Devin complaining about not being allowed to go on the next mission, Tulma making fun of him, Tyler reading a digital magazine about any upcoming games, Justin having to go and see Chakwas about getting his injuries fixed from attempting to mount a miniature rocket launcher to his armor's shoulder pad and proceeded to blow up when he tried firing it, Zaeed was grumbling about running out of whiskey, and finally Grunt was just content at the time being with laughing at other people's miseries.

It brought a smile to his face to see that everyone was getting along with each other well in the small ecosystem that was the Normandy's interior.

Maybe he should become a biologist when the reaper mess was done and over with?

That what his mother wanted him to be after all.

Shepard is interrupted from his thoughts when he feels his omni-tool buzzing, playing a small tune that Shepard knew belonged to one person on his contact list.

Immediately bringing the device to his ear, Shepard hurriedly began to ask what happened.

"Liara? What's wrong, are you in trouble? Where are you?"

"Shepard, while it's good to see that you still worry about me, relax; I'm calling you to tell you about something important, something that will change the galaxy at large." She told him, causing the man to stop his current occupation of people watching and make his way to the elevator, headed to the galaxy map just in case if she needed him.

"What do you need from me, Liara? I'm ready to offer my help whenever I can."

"That's very kind of you Shepard, but I need you to come and meet me at my office on Illium; but other than that, don't worry until then. I have everything under control."

Shepard knew that tone of voice from anywhere, no matter the species (except raloi, he still needs to familiarize himself to their behaviors); it was a tone that spoke of danger and high-stakes, but was there merely as a warning to the man.

But since this was Shepard, he never took warnings seriously.

With Liara hanging up, Shepard knew exactly what needed to be done.

"Joker, make our way back to Illium; we've got some unfinished business and Liara is going to need all the help she can get for this one."

"Aye aye, Commander. Just say the word and I'll be on my way."

Shepard sighed, shaking his head at the man's request, knowing that it was going to be pointless to try and get him to change his mind.

"Joker, I already said to make our way back to Illium."

"You didn't say _the words_, Commander!"

"Fine… _open the sail and make our heading to Illium, full mast ahead_." Shepard said in the most monotone voice he could muster, with Joker sighing in the background.

"That's the best I'm getting… roger that Commander Buzzkill, ETA to Illium is thirty-six hours." Joker told the man, ending his small game so that he could spend the rest of his time pouting.

Sometimes, Shepard thought of himself as a busy father, with everyone on the ground team, and a few who weren't, being his unruly children who always came to him when they needed help.

Truth be told, he's starting to enjoy it.

Is that worrying?

* * *

"So, this is Illium huh? I mean, it looks pretty and all, but too many buildings and a lot of cramped looking space." Jay commented, his face crunched up in slight disapproval as Tyler nodded in agreement, knowing exactly how the man felt.

"Yeah, don't know why they can't really spread out a little more, but I guess that's why they're building up instead of out. That and the fact that the land mass near the poles are the only hospitable places on the planet are probably hindering any efforts of expansion."

"We can have history and geography class later guys, right now we have to focus on seeing what Liara wants from us." Shepard told them, causing both men to shrug their shoulders and follow closely behind him, with Shepard hurrying to see what his friend needed.

Maybe the information that Cerberus gave him about the Shadow Broker would help her, if that's the reason why she contacted him.

"Liara! I can already guess why you contacted me, and I want to say that it's a stupid plan, but since I'm me, I agree to it; I have information on the whereabouts of the Shadow Broker that you may find useful." Shepard told the woman upon entering (**read bursting into**) her office, catching Liara off guard as she jerked upright at the sudden noise that came from the man's entrance, her biotics flaring out of instinct.

Liara, upon realizing that nothing was happening and no one was attacking anyone or anything, simply frowned at the man, shaking her head at him as he took a seat across from her, her biotics dissipating as she calmed down.

"Shepard! As much I enjoy seeing you and hearing from you, do you have to kick in my door and scream like that?" She scolds, watching as he never lost the smile on his face, which in turn causes Liara to inevitably lose her seriousness, causing the woman to snicker to herself.

"I knew I'd get you to break," he said, reclining back into his seat as Liara could only shake her head in amusement, "but I'm serious about what I said: I do have information provided to me by Cerberus to find the Shadow Broker. I'm here to help you with this problem, and you know I won't take no for an answer." He told her, activating his omni-tool and sending the woman the details and the information that was provided to him over to her omni-tool so that she could take a look for herself.

Upon opening the package, Liara immediately began reading everything that it had to offer, soaking the information up piece by piece as her eyes quickly scanned and stored all the useful information that was provided for her.

With the amount that was held within it, Liara briefly wondered why none of the Shadow Broker's agents had tried to intercept this data or, at the very least, tried to get the data from the packet that had it.

This information was the kind that could start or end wars, remove or add people to power, topple or empower governments and so on. So why in the name of Athame was it in possession of a human who simply didn't care about what it contained? And how did a human extremist group manage to get a hold of it?

Now Liara's head was starting to hurt.

She explained that the information that she was reading seemed as if it were transmissions between operatives, hints of locations, and a friend of hers that was held captive by the man, with Liara explaining that he had helped her retrieve his body from the Shadow Broker and in turn gave himself up so that she could get Shepard's body into Cerberus' hands.

Shepard wasn't expecting that response, not realizing that she was the one who kept him out of the collector's hands and gave him a second chance at life.

"If you need anything else from me, Liara, is there anywhere you want us to meet?" Shepard asked her, watching as Liara simply wrote down a message on a piece of paper, which caused Shepard to raise an eyebrow at the foreign sight, before reading its contents.

"Where'd you get paper?"

"I have my sources."

"Okay and it's written in English why exactly?"

"Well unless you can read and write in High Thessian dialect, I would gladly write in it for you. But I learned how to read and write in it when I first bonded with you back when you were hunting Saren; I was curious about it and thought that it would be interesting to learn more about a human language."

Shrugging at the response and reasoning given to him, Shepard could only make a snarky remark that all he had to do was scribble in circles and then present it to the woman, which caused Liara to laugh out loud, simply responding with how bad of an idea that would be.

"So, you're apartment then?"

"Yes; I'll see you in an hour or two Shepard, until then I'm going to be going over everything in full."

With that out of the way, the two of them bid each other farewell and that they'll see each other shortly.

However, they were unaware of the fact that they were being watched by a few figures in the distance.

One of the figures lifted their hand to their head, activating a communications channel as they began relaying what they had seen.

"Ma'am, contacts have met and have exchanged details and locations… yes ma'am, Shepard and T'Soni… understood ma'am, headed to the apartment now… don't worry, we can solve this all with a push of a button or a pull of a trigger… understood, Echo one out."

* * *

Shepard, upon seeing that there was a police line stretched across the entrance to Liara's apartment, ran to the officer who was guarding said line, immediately questioning the lady about what happened and why were they there.

That was, until an asari stepped down the stairs, telling him that there were people that had attacked the place, seemingly on a search for something of vital importance.

"Who in the hell are you?" Shepard asked the woman, crossing the line as the officer had tried in vain to get them to stay behind the line, but was ultimately dismissed as the asari had told her that she and the others were told to leave.

Turning around, the asari seemed to size the man and his cohorts that stood behind him before answering, "Tela Vasir, Special Tactics and Reconnaissance."

Shepard was cut off guard by the introduction, only being able to ask if she truly was one, to which she nodded.

"I heard that you got your status reinstated recently, good; that'll help us out a lot. You're one of our most famous operatives, you know? I might even get you to sign my chest plate, maybe right across here." She tells him, pointing at her assets as she grinned at the man.

"Umm… anywhere else?"

"I'm kidding, Shepard. Unless you want to sign it there or on my ass, then I won't say no to that. In all seriousness though, I assume you had business with your friend this evening, Commander? Liara T'Soni, if I'm correct?"

"Yeah, Liara and I was following a lead on the Shadow Broker. But how did you know that I had business with her?" He asked, looking the woman dead in the eyes as she could only smirk in return.

"We're Spectres, Shepard; we each have our own little field of specialty in which we excel at. Yours is combat and leadership, mine is information gathering and intelligence reports. Besides, Liara is a very well-known information broker here on Illium, and with your all's past, I wasn't surprised in the slightest when I figured out that you all had something planned, especially with what they have at their disposal. But the Shadow Broker is a dangerous enemy to have." She explained, going over her background and sharing it with the man while pointing out the obvious as Shepard could only nod his head, rationalizing that what she had said and explained to him all made valid points.

Everyone had their own field of expertise, after all.

Upon questioning about the attack details, police investigation, and Liara's location, Tela had explained that someone took a shot at Liara half an hour ago but wasn't counting on there to be a barrier that stopped them but stuck around for a little bit, then recounted that the police had found everything was trashed inside the place and that she gave them a gold star for finding the bullet marks.

"And her location?"

"If I knew that then I wouldn't be here; I've been sifting through her crap trying to find a mention of anything that would point me to where she would be headed. There's no blood, so she had to have gotten away."

"Liara was expecting me, so she must've left a message; her office wasn't safe, hence why we were meeting here." Shepard told her, looking around the trashed apartment to see if anything caught his eye.

Tela agreed with the man, telling him that Illium was just Omega, but with more expensive shoes and a higher lifestyle.

With her explaining that she couldn't find anything of use, she asked Shepard if he was able to look around for anything that would tell them where she went, seeing as how he knew her better and far longer than she has, to which Shepard readily agreed, telling Tyler and Jay to stay put as he looked around for clues.

Upon touching the picture of the Normandy back when Saren was a threat, the image changed to that of an ancient dig site, which caused Tela and Shepard to come to the conclusion that it was wired to his ID and that they should go and investigate the vast array of relics and statues from the prothean era.

It didn't take it long to find the correct relic, with Shepard simply touching the glass enclosure, a secret compartment had opened up and revealed a data disk, which the two of them promptly loaded onto Liara's personal terminal, with its contents revealing a recorded conversation between her and a salarian by the name of Sekat.

"_With what you provided, Miss T'Soni, I can narrow the location down to a cluster at least and maybe a system. I'll be able to explain more at Dracon Trade Center, at the Baria Frontiers lobby. I'll you there whenever you can make it."_

The transmission ended, causing Shepard to look at Tela as she looked back.

"You know where that is?"

"Yeah, come on; we can take my shuttle there, you and your friends can hitch a ride." She told him, walking back down the stairs as Shepard towed behind her and motioning for his henchmen to follow along.

Things were going to get interesting from here on out, especially if the Shadow Broker was after them now and that they had already sent people to attack Liara directly.

"There it is: Dracon Trade Center. Now, Baria Frontiers offices should be somewhere on the third floor; but I'm not hearing any police chatter, so we must've just missed the-"

An explosion resonates within the area, sending glass and shrapnel all across the lower lobby as Shepard, Tela, Tyler, and Jay took cover to avoid getting shredding by all the debris that was flying through the air. Though a few civilians were either harmed or outright killed in the resulting aftermath, and that pissed Shepard off.

Gritting his teeth, Shepard gripped his old rifle tightly, shouldering it as he and everyone else moved from cover as Tyler and Jay went to aide any one who was lucky enough to survive.

"LIARA!" Shepard screamed, running into the building as Tela grabbed his attention.

"They just blew three floors to make sure she's dead… fuck; Shepard, I'll take my car up to the top and seal it off from there, you can meet back with me somewhere in the middle until then!" She told him, running to her car as Shepard gave her a thumbs up, not wasting any time to give her a response as Tyler and Jay had pulled everyone who was alive to safety and contacted the local authorities to get any first responders on scene as soon as possible.

With Jay and Tyler loading their weapons, Tyler looked at Shepard as they had caught up with him inside and asked him one question that was promptly answered with a grim sentence.

"Commander, what is the rules for engagement from here on out? They did practically kill a lot of civvies, after all."

"Kill them all; my Spectre status will give you both immunity to whatever happens here."

With them finally climbing the stairs, Tela informs them about not having any hopes of the informant surviving the blast, which caused Shepard to curse in anger.

With them entering the next area, an employee who is on his last legs weakly tells them what happened, with mercs appearing from smoke armed with weapons and explosives that were the cause of the explosion that nearly took out three levels.

He had expired briefly afterwards, with Tyler cursing under his breath as he deactivated his omni-tool from him almost being able to give the man medi-gel, looking at Shepard as he solemnly shook his head.

"Got a bomb over here, Commander! Looks military-grade, possibly a well-built IED at the very least." Jay calls out, waving the two men over as he gestured towards the device, which caught both men's attention as well.

Shepard activated his comms, telling Tela about the find that he and his team had discovered the bomb, which she responds with it being a sloppy job and that there had to have been little time for planning.

Shepard had to agree with the observation, knowing that she had a point that everything was pointing towards that fact, but was fully expecting there to be mercs scouring around the building just in case they had failed their objective. Thinking this, Shepard alerted both his team and Tela that there were most likely mercs still patrolling the building and that they should be ready for a confrontation.

"Looks as if Liara signed in just minutes ago, that means she has to be around here somewhere… You two, fan out and sweep the area for any signs of Liara; keep an eye out for any mercenaries that may still be around." Shepard ordered, with both men giving their own forms of acknowledgments as they inspected the area while on alert for any signs of merc activity.

That was until a flashbang hit them, causing all three men to curse and dive into cover, with Tyler cursing the most.

"IT'S ALWAYS A FUCKING FLASHBANG! HOW DO YOU ALL LIKE IT?!" He screamed, his biotics flaring as he used his whips to lash out and grab the jet-black colored merc before using all of his might to fling the man against a window before shattering the glass with a warp just as he collided, sending the merc to his death below.

"Vasir! We're pinned down by mercs with some serious firepower over here!" Shepard called out, opening a comm line with Tela as she could be heard firing her weapon.

"This is the Shadow Broker's personal army, Shepard! I'd be shocked if they didn't have any high-tech gear!"

"Jay!"

"Yes sir?"

"Flank left, use that rifle of yours to take on the heavier armored opponents, Tyler you take right and get close and personal with your biotics! I'm headed up the middle to provide support to both sides, so give me a callout if you need it." Shepard orders them, readying his weapon once again as he applies armor-piercing ammo to it, with Tyler and Jay nodding their heads as they processed the order.

With the battle plan made and shared, the three of them exits their respective cover with their weapon/biotics ready, already taking out two more mercs who just so happened to be in the process of setting a sentry up with their omni-tool or were preparing to throw another grenade.

With Shepard climbing over cover and laying down suppressive fire for Jay, the man pulled out the grenade that he had used back on the collector vessel, something that he simply called a shock grenade, and tosses it into the fray, with it detonating and sending the small electro-based fragments over a wide area before a field of electricity came to life, causing one of the asari operatives to cry out in pain as her implants and armor began malfunctioning, leaving her a writhing mess before Jay finished the woman off for good with a shot from his rifle.

Tyler was doing a little better, having summoned a biotic barrier that surrounds him as he advances through the oncoming enemy fire and actual fire left over from the bombing. Since the barrier was actually solid and wouldn't let anyone in or out, Tyler had no way of attacking while it was in use, but to counteract this, the man dispelled it at the last second before his biotic energy flowed within his whips, with the man slamming them on the ground and creating a devastating shockwave that either outright killed a merc or two, or heavily wounded others. Following this, he and Shepard fired their weapons into the downed enemies and rounded the corner to continue their hunt for Sekat, Liara's informant.

* * *

Tela was having an overall decent day so far: with the Shadow Broker giving her the assignment to kill Liara before she became too much of a problem, Shepard showing up, the human who doesn't exist following along with him, and taking care of the informant was all in all a decent challenge for her.

She knew that the reports of the man named _Devin_ were most likely stretched truths and rumors, but seeing that he was actually taller than everyone, wearing unfamiliar armor, and having strange weaponry was an eye opener for her.

Shame that he wasn't as bulky as reports stated, because it would've been fighting him herself.

Tela was interrupted from her thoughts when one of the operatives nudged her, trying and succeeding in gaining her attention as he motioned towards a screen that showed all of the functioning cameras that Shepard and his squad were on, seeing that they were effortlessly fighting their way through all sources of opposition from the standard trooper to the skilled commandos.

"Ma'am, at the rate that they're moving, they'll be here any minute now; I advise that we find the salarian, take care of him, and get out." He told her, looking back at the screen to see the large human hammering blows onto a downed batarian with his fists, the batarian trying in vain to stop the fists with his forearms but failing in his endeavor as the man simply stood up and stomped his brains out.

Maybe fighting the man in close combat wasn't _that_ _good_ of an idea. She can always take him from a distance or even use her biotics to aide in her fight.

She doesn't know.

"Yeah," she says, her eyes never leaving the screen as she currently processed everything that was going on, from how Shepard wasn't holding back on fighting anymore and using the old HMW Spectre weapons, the Cerberus biotic using everything in his arsenal to make sure that every hit was near lethal, to the large human who was acting as the tank for the group, "Shepard doesn't seem to be holding back now… I wonder why?"

"Probably because we just bombed and killed several dozen innocent civilians; the man is a paragon after all and seeing that probably made him lose any restraint. But we have the salarian's location now; follow me and we'll be there in a minute at least."

Tela didn't say a word, watching the screen as she took a long look at the people who were in it, smiling to herself as she turned and followed the man without a word.

She was a very busy woman, and if she wants to keep Shepard into believing that she is on his side, she's going to have to get creative.

And creativity is her specialty.

* * *

"DAMMIT! If I had been A MINUTE SOONER, I would've gotten here to save the damned salarian." Tela screams in frustration, kicking a chair over as she cursed violently.

Shepard, upon seeing that Tela had killed the last merc, lowered his rifle and motioned for Tyler and Jay to do the same, with the man scowling as he crouched and inspected the body, shaking his head the entire time as he looked around it and the omni-tool.

"Was this Sekat?" He asked, hoping that it wasn't, which was somewhat of a dick move on his part, but knowing full well that it was.

"Must've been; seems as if he was hiding in here, waiting for something or someone before the damned mercs showed up."

"The data is missing; no sign of it being here or on the omni-tool. This is dead end…"

"Speaking of Liara, did you find her? Or even her body?"

Before Shepard could say anything to the woman, a third voice interrupts them, drawing all four people's attention as they turned to see who the voice belonged to.

"Liara! Uh… is there something I should know here or what? I mean, you do have a gun trained on a Spectre, after all." Shepard asks, watching his friend never look away from the woman as she explained everything that had happened since the building was bombed and the death of Sekat, with her explaining that it was Tela who had contacted the Shadow Broker after she had her location.

Suddenly, it all made sense to Shepard: from having the woman help her find any relevant information on the Shadow Broker, the location where Liara was supposed to go, who she was supposed to meet, and what time it was going to happen was too much of a coincidence.

In short: he had been duped.

No one ever dupes Shepard.

No one.

"She and her men found Sekat and killed him, but you came in sooner than what she was expecting, which means that she still has that disk on her." Liara summarized, tightening the grip on her weapon as Shepard and the others now had their weapons aimed at her as well.

"Clever girl. You're right, I do have it on me right here," she says, lifting her hand up and revealing a small, cylindrical device within her grasp, "but it's a shame that you'll never find out what's on it, much less use it for anything you pure-blood bitch!"

Upon finishing the insult, Tela had used her biotics to shatter the glass behind her and launch it at the group, with Liara and Tyler activating their biotics and shielding everyone from the debris then dispelling it, giving Shepard enough time to charge the woman and tackle her through the opening left behind from Tela's attack.

Everyone looked over the edge and seen that she had kicked Shepard away from her slowly glided down to the ground safely, with Shepard groaning in pain and discomfort as he started to regain his footing.

Liara took the plunge as well, seeing that Shepard wasn't going to get up in time to stop her from escaping, and basically followed Tela's lead as she herself slowed her descent and promptly ran as fast as she could to follow the woman.

Tyler, being a Phoenix vanguard, used a biotic charge to cross the playing field in a fraction of a second, slamming into one of the mercs and sending the man flying into the wall as he and someone else were about to attack Liara.

Jay could only groan in frustration, not having any biotics to slow his fall or even a cable that he can use as a makeshift rappel to get to the ground floor in a timely manner made the man upset as he took a look at the stairs the were behind him.

"I'll be down there in a minute! Just… fuck it, I'll catch up as soon as I can!" He called out to Shepard, watching as the man looked back up at him and gave him a thumbs up in acknowledgment, before turning around and sprinting to where Liara, Tyler, and Tela had ran off to.

"_Stupid fucking space magic, telekinesis, and bullshit floating tricks…_" He grumbled to himself all the way down the main floor of the building.

Sometimes, he wishes he didn't investigate the ruins of Illima City.

* * *

"DODGE LEFT!"

"I KNOW THIS LIARA! I CAN SEE TOO, YOU KNOW!"

The proximity charge exploded, violently shaking the sky car and its occupants as warning lights lit up across the front dash, causing Shepard to groan in aggravation and annoyance.

"You know, you two argue like a married couple on their twentieth anniversary." Came the snarky remark from Tyler, causing both Shepard and Liara to look back at the man harshly.

"SHUT IT!" They both scream, causing the man to lift both of his hands into the air as a gesture of surrender, with him not wanting to invoke their wrath upon him.

Jay could only laugh from his corner of the car, him being squished against the door with Tyler on the opposite side.

It was uncomfortable for both men to get in the back seat, with Liara suggesting that they leave one man behind, but since neither of them have any idea how to get back to the Normandy or where they were, Shepard had disregarded that offer, telling her that he likes four guns instead of three being on this chase after a Spectre.

Whatever Liara had planned was cut short when the sky car once again was violently shaken, making the occupants either groan or curse to themselves at having their head or limbs bang against the interior of the vehicle rather hard.

"What the hell was that, Commander?" Jay asked, noticing the windshield was cracked in several places and that half of the dash was no longer lighting up anymore.

"Good news, everyone! I no longer have any of these annoying lights in my sight distracting me!" Shepard abruptly said, completely brushing off the man's question as everyone felt a pit grow in their stomach.

"And the bad news?" Tyler tentatively asks, almost dreading the answer that they were all waiting for.

"I may have taken out several advertising signs and columns on my way through a shortcut… No biggie, right? Hey look, there she is!" Shepard suddenly called out, interrupting everyone as he pointed at the sky car that Tela had taken, which was steadily coming closer into view.

A lot closer.

Like, a _LOT CLOSER._

Liara immediately knew what the man had planned.

"Shepard, let's be reasonable here: this isn't the Mako and that isn't some random geth! This is a sky car that moves about twelve times as fast and couldn't take a tenth of the amount of damage that the Mako could. Shepard? Shepard?! SHEPARD!" Liara cried out, frantically trying to crawl back from the windshield as Shepard began laughing maniacally, drawing ever closer to the sky car as he screamed one the first thing that came to his mind.

"CATCH A RIIIIIIIIDE!" He screamed, slamming into the side of the vehicle and sending it to the top of a building in smoke and flames, Shepard driving full speed and landing on the same building that Tela crashed on.

Upon landing, Liara, Jay, and Tyler immediately left the car and began hyperventilating, with Tyler and Jay actually taking their helmets off and throwing up all of their stomach's contents while Liara nearly went into fetal position to comfort herself.

Shepard being Shepard simply paid them no mind, popping his neck as he grabbed his weapons and other gear and reattached them back onto his armor, a smile prevalent on his face as he looked at his friends who were suffering on the ground.

He really misses driving around in the Mako and running over geth primes and armatures; it really got his blood pumping and his adrenaline coursing through his system.

"YOU'RE FUCKING INSANE!" Tyler screamed at the man when he looked up at him, wiping his mouth clean as Jay could only nod in agreement with his statement, which Shepard promptly shrugged his shoulders at the remark.

"Gotta have fun every once in a while, guys. Let's go and catch Vasir, because I'm pretty sure she's trying to limp away."

"Please give me a moment…" Liara weakly muttered, trying to regain control over her respiratory system as Shepard shrugged.

"Well, I suggest you three better hurry because we've got company inbound, and I'm pretty sure that they're not First Responders."

"FUUUUU-"

* * *

"We can climb through here to get to Vasir's vehicle." Liara tells everyone, motioning towards the glass wall that was completely gone and a vehicle doing a poor job replacing it, climbing through it as they come into what appeared to be some form of club with distorted music, overturned or destroyed pieces of furniture, and a bar that had miraculously survived any sort of harm.

They were interrupted from their musings when they heard a woman silently praying to live, saying that she'll do mantras every week, donate to charity, get a better job on the Citadel, and even move there if need be.

This caught Shepard's attention, with him rounding a corner and finding a human and an asari huddled together, holding each other as they prayed to their respective deities to be spared.

When the guy sees that they aren't alone, he immediately begins talking to him.

"Hey, hey, we're unarmed! We didn't see anything, I swear!"

Shepard could only blink owlishly at the man, his face scrunching up in confusion as he looked at both the man and the asari and the rather lewd video that was playing on the screen.

"Well…" Shepard started, looking back at the man as he slowly shook his head, "I… see that you're being truthful, so my team and I will leave you two be. Remember to stay out of jail, stay in school, don't do drugs, and eat healthy."

With the man leaving the room, Shepard pointed a finger at the screen and looked at Liara directly.

"What kind of hotel is this place?"

"Azure. It's a luxury hotel with an… exotic edge. _Azure_ is slang for a part of the asari body, in some places of Illium."

"Where?"

"Mainly the lower reaches, near the bottom."

"I meant where on the body, Liara."

"So did I Shepard."

"We've got a blood trail here! Looks like she was hurt and it might be slowing her down, meaning we can catch up to her in no time." Jay calls out, motioning towards a small pool of purple blood as Shepard and Liara nodded, silently thanking the man as they all began to follow to where it led.

Judging from the amount of blood (**which is an ungodly amount; seriously, I'm talking at least a couple of gallons worth of blood that you have to follow for at least a hundred meters or more. Just how much blood is in the asari body?**) that was left behind, Vasir couldn't have been in any position or condition to fight anymore, which meant that she couldn't fight back when they took the data from her.

Shepard, even with how everything has happened and what had happened, hoped that she wouldn't fight back; he just hopes that Vasir would see reason whenever they confronted her.

"It's over Vasir! Hand the disk over." Liara called out, gaining Tela's and everyone else's attention, which prompted her to grab a woman and hold her pistol to her head, causing the patrons to scream and leave in a panicked fashion.

(**As opposed to an orderly fashion.**)

"You don't need to do this, Vasir; you're already injured and have lost a lot of blood, so a fight is the last thing you need and want right now. We only came for the disk, not for you. Hand it over, and you can walk away with your life." Shepard told her, his pistol aimed at the woman as Tela scoffed at the comment, angrily shaking her head at Shepard as she coughs up some blood.

"Walk away? You think that _I_ can just _walk away_? The Shadow Broker knows where I am, who I am, and every little detail in between. I can't just walk away, Shepard; I'm dead regardless of what happens." She tells him, pointing her gun at the man as Liara and the others tensed up in anticipation.

"Then come with us until we take care of the guy! We can find out where he is with that data, and since you'll be with us, you'll be safe! Vasir… Tela, you're a woman with amazing talents and a very adept and adverse set of skills; killing you right now will be not just a waste of life, but a waste of an amazing soldier. You became a Spectre for a reason, Tela, give us the data and I guarantee that you'll be safe aboard my ship and its crew."

"Don't you get it, Shepard? The Shadow Broker has agents _EVERYWHERE!_ He even has a few of them aboard your ship, the _Normandy SR2_, I believe is its name? I go with you, I die regardless."

"Then I'll have you guarded by my ground team! Tela, you know none of us works for the shady bastard, so at least give us the chance to _save your life_. I promise you; I give you my word that you will not come to harm at all if you give me that data… please, we're doing the galaxy a favor by killing the son of a bitch once and for all, so help us help everyone."

Vasir, upon looking at her hostage, her gun, the three guns trained on her, the data disk that she has, and the silhouette of a dancing elcor that may or may not be real, dropped the gun and her hostage, sinking to her knees and finally to her back as Shepard stood over her, looking down at her with pity and curiosity.

"Vasir?"

"Take it… just take it…" She tells him, coughing up blood as she grabbed it and held it out to the man, who accepted her gesture and took the disk and handing it to Liara.

"I made a promise, Vasir; you give it to us, we help you. And I always keep my word." Shepard tells her, giving the woman enough medi-gel to keep her steady as he motions for Tyler and Jay to carry the woman, walking away with Liara to go over any details that would be crucial to their mission.

"This data is from Sekat's personal data stores; with everything here, I can put it through the Normandy's database to figure out where the Shadow Broker's base of operations is. If I'm reading this right, we can be there in a matter of hours, at the very least, or a day at most. He'll know about Vasir, maybe even a matter of hours from now. But until then, he'll have enough time to kill Feron, maybe even-" Shepard interrupts Liara, pulling her hand and turning her around so that she can look into his eyes.

"Liara, we're not going to let that happen; Feron will be okay, understood? I'll personally make sure of it. I promise, and you know when I make a promise…"

"You always keep it. Thanks Shepard, I knew I could count on you. But are you sure it's wise to keep Vasir with us? If what she says is true, then we could be in danger the entire time we're en route to the Broker's base." Liara tells him, walking back outside and looking at the sun on the horizon, ignoring the sirens that are currently echoing throughout the city, while Shepard takes his place beside her.

"Honestly? No, I don't think it's a good idea. What I do think, however, is that she's too valuable of an asset to lose, even with her methods. I think that whenever we kill this bastard, she could become a potential ally to us, hell maybe even a friend."

Liara rolled her eyes, commenting on the fact that out of all species, humans and krogan are the only ones that would try to kill one another, only to become friends with the person they tried to kill the next day.

Shepard could only laugh, telling her that he has a krogan aboard the vessel that attempted to kill him when he first woke up and a woman who tried to attack him when they confronted her, which caused Liara to let out a genuine laugh, merely telling the man that her point was proven.

"You always had the most interesting people and personalities flock to you, you know that?"

"I blame god for giving me the charisma and charm of a Greek philosopher."

"I don't think that really applies to this situation."

"I said charisma and charm, not intelligence and foresight."

The two of them shared a laugh at the joke, knowing that at the end of the day, they were going to make history and that the galaxy will change for the better.

Only then will their mission on assaulting the collector homeworld be easier.

* * *

**That wraps up the first part of this chapter! Tela, in my opinion, is too valuable of an asset to just simply kill her off; with her skills, connections, and experience, she would've been a major boon for ME3, but we ended up replacing her blood type with lead, or whatever the ammo blocks are (tungsten, I think?).**

**Not much else to say, other than that next chapter will be action packed, full of idiocy and humor, and a slight revelation for Shepard (no spoilers yet!).**

**Sorry to say, but with this sickness, the chapter may not be coming out next Monday, but it will definitely be out by the following one; just gotta wait and see what happened with my lungs is all.**

**That is all for now and I hope that you all enjoy your week and have a great day! See you all next time!**


	25. We Can Break a Shadow

**It's been an entire month since I last updated anything on fanfiction here: life had really let me down during the past month here, from taxes to moving most of my belongings into storage so that I can move in with a friend, ultimately deciding that moving was going to a lot more expensive than what I had at the time, having to relocate and transfer jobs a few times, bills hammering me down, taxes to file, and so much more that it'd probably be an entire chapter on its own if I were tell every one of you about it in detail. It caused me to go into a hiatus and forced me into a writer's block, but now that it's all over and done, I'm back here to tell you all that this story will not die. I am not abandoning it or the other one, but I will say that from now on this story will be updated every 2 to 3 weeks, as weekly updates weer beginning to get to me as well as everything else.**

**My other story will be updated soon this month, like maybe around semi-late February, don't worry.**

**Nothing else to say other than I am deeply sorry for not informing anyone on what has happened via a notice, but rest assured that I'm back in the swing of things.**

**Without further ado, it's Review Time:**

**Blaze: You're correct in that matter, but it was Tyler (or it should have been if it wasn't him) calling Shepard insane, not Jay. It's not that he couldn't make that jump, it's that he didn't want to risk getting hurt from a fall of more than forty or fifty feet. Tela only knew the description of the armor that Devin wore ( a giant, bulky set of armor that could take a lot of punishment with a set of glowing blue optics and a cog of the chestpiece), she had no idea that the man was not in fact Devin and was merely basing her opinions of what she knew about the man's characteristics; ie, tall and wearing strange armor. She is in no position to do that, Shepard and co will personally make sure of it.**

**Zero: I'll take that as a compliment!**

**Paragade: It was more for me to not have the story drawn out into nearly 50 chapters (which to me, 25 is insane and I never thought I'd see the day) but not only that, I have decided that Jay was being treated unfairly and, as a way to make up for that error on my end, chapter 26 is going to solely about him and through his eyes. As for that second part; I will not confirm nor deny these allegations.**

**That's all for the reviews, and holy shit, I never thought I'd see the day when we get to over a hundred followers and over 200k words! Thank you all so much for your continued support and I hope that I'll continue living up to your expectations!**

**Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Five: We Can Break a Shadow**

"Ms. Vasir, if you do not stop moving, I will have you restrained while I am trying to reset your elbow properly." Chakwas scolded the groaning asari, a frown adorning her face as she shook her head at the interruptions coming from the woman who was currently in a bed.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Came the slightly uneasy response from the woman, her head weakly tilted to the side to look at the doctor as Chakwas held a scanner in her hands.

"The asari and human female body types are vastly similar, Ms. Vasir; you should know this by now." She told her, setting the scanner down and forwarding the contents to a nearby display terminal and nodding to herself at what had appeared before moving a surgical camera and positioning it over Vasir's left arm.

"What's the thing for?"

"It has an x-ray function that allows me to see what I'm doing and what needs to be done."

"What do you need to do?"

Stopping for a brief moment, Chakwas looked up at the woman and simply smiled at her, her expression filling Vasir with dread.

"This." Is all that she said before grabbing the woman's arm and pushing it back suddenly, causing Vasir's eyes to shoot wide open as she let out a weak scream, the pain from her elbow no longer being dislocated and reset now coursing through her entire system.

Chakwas nodded to herself in satisfaction, pulling the equipment out of the way as she ran a few more scans on the sore and irate asari while said asari was giving her a look that could kill, if they were able to.

"You did that on purpose; that was more force than necessary and you know it." Tela accused, gritting her teeth as Chakwas simply smiled her once more, telling her that she didn't know what she was going on about before leaving the woman to her own devices.

Tela let her head drop to the bed, groaning out loud once more as the painkillers were finally taking effect and relieving her pains slightly.

That was when the door to the med bay opened once more, making Tela look over to see who had entered the room, ready to open her mouth and say something to the unwelcomed visitor but stopped herself when he seen that it was a human sitting in a wheelchair.

"So… you're Tela Vasir; honestly, given your Spectre role and identity, I figured that you'd have an equal chance at fighting Shepard… I was somewhat correct, I suppose." He said, stopping by the foot of her bed to take a look at her before rolling himself to the back corner of the room, bringing up his omni-tool and began watching a video on it.

"Who in the hell are you?"

"Devin, or as you may know me by my callsign Onyx. Pleasure to meet you." He told her, his sarcasm thick as he didn't look up at her.

"I thought that the other person was-"

"That's Jay; he's a good kid with a good head on his shoulders, but he is in no way me. Besides, he has a marine variant of the COG armor, I was army and Onyx Guard… well, I guess since he was an escort of a First Minister, he'd be an Onyx Guard as well…" Devin trailed off, rubbing his chin with his free hand, scratching at the small beard that was growing from the lack of shaving that he's done in the past month.

Being in a medically induced coma for a couple of weeks and sicker than a dog will do that to you.

The next ten minutes were spent with Tela asking him questions about why he was in the room, to which Devin explained that Shepard had told him about the situation that she was in and that he needed someone trustworthy to make sure nothing happens.

Tela was surprised that Shepard was actually keeping his word, knowing that he could've killed her or left her to die, by the hands of one of the two agents aboard the Normandy.

Probably why he had that enormous pistol holstered by his side, and from the reports and footage that she's gathered from the man, it is extremely effective against opponents with little armor and shields.

Even more so to one's who have neither.

She wonders what kind of stories the man could tell and seeing as how she's currently confined to the med bay for a while, she has to make the most of her time by learning all that she could about the man.

Surely he has something interesting to tell her?

* * *

"There's no damn way that happened, especially after you joining special forces too." She told him, looking at the man as he nodded his head at the accusation, twisting his torso to show her a large scar that ran up the side of his ribcage.

"On my life, I swear it happened; the bastard came charging my squad and I with a knife made from rusted sheet metal and had stabbed me right in the side here, but luckily enough the armor I had at the time was made from osmium and reinforced steel and had actually wedged the thing in me to the point that the bastard didn't have enough time to register that it was stuck before Garret blew the fucker's brains out!" Devin told her, laughing as he looked at the scar with remembrance crossing his features, a smirk adorning his face before suddenly disappearing.

"God that was excruciating; my left lung was cut up badly, the surgery was painful, the meds were good, and the ribs were reconstructed with minimal effort… god I hated the summer variant army combat gear. That's why I loved the new armor I received shortly after; better materials, better quality, more durable, and _actually_ protected your body with high quality under armor."

"I'm surprised that you survived something like that; knowing that your lung was fucked up and that you were out in the field meant that you were far from medical aid."

Devin snorted at that, leaning back into his chair as he told her that it definitely wasn't a cakewalk.

For the past hour, the two of them shared war stories, idle conversation, and were joking around with one another. Every now and then, either Garrus, Tyler, or Tulma would come by to check on them and see if they needed anything from drinks to food and provided them whenever they were requested.

Tela, during the time, had relaxed herself into her bed, thoroughly enjoying herself and her time spent with the man.

Who would have thought that the man that the Shadow Broker had sent her after was an excellent conversationalist?

"So the turian, Tulma Sparatus, seems awfully chummy with you."

"So?"

"You two fucking each other yet? If so, then I'd love to see just how pissed Sparatus will be when he finds out the that niece of the most powerful turian alive is banging a human."

Devin sighed, shaking his head and rolling his eyes as he frowns at the woman, telling her that Sparatus didn't hate humans as much as everyone believes and that he and Tulma aren't sexually intimate with each other yet, due to the mission at hand and what lies ahead of them as a whole with the reaper invasion.

"And after?"

"After, we'll do whatever the fuck we want."

Tela laughed at that, knowing where the man was coming from and that she respected him for not caring about the implications that could possibly happen if word was to get out about the two of them being an item.

She herself never really cared about the political side of things; only that she completed her missions and got the desired results.

Their conversation was interrupted when the door opened once more, a crew member walking into the room with a data pad held within her grasp as she looked at Tela and Devin with a blank face.

Devin was slowly inching his hand closer to his boltok, just in case if things were going to get ugly.

"Hello ma'am, what brings you here to our humble abode?" Devin asked her, his voice calm and level as he never took his eyes off the woman and the loose-fitting lab coat as she took another glance at the data pad and set it aside.

"I'm just here to take a few scans of our patient, Devin; due to the nature of the scans, however, I do need to ask you to leave for Ms. Vasir's pri-"

Devin immediately cut the woman off, telling her that there was zero chance that he was leaving the room and that if anything was going to happen then Chakwas needed to be the one to do it.

He and the woman stared at each other tensely, neither moving a muscle until the woman sighed, backing off from the request as she knew that the man wouldn't leave for any reason.

Upon her leaving the room, Devin looked back at Tela and seen that she had let out a sigh of relief, easing her body back into the bed as she let her head fall to the pillow beneath it.

"You okay?"

"Yeah," Tela started, turning to look at Devin with a thankful nod, "I know you don't have to do this, that you can let whatever you want happen to me and let the operatives here finish me off like a sick varren, but I really do appreciate you, Shepard, and everyone else keeping me safe. Heh, from all I've seen, read, and heard about, you'd make a fine Spectre, Devin. Maybe after Shepard is finished with this suicide mission, I can take you back to the Council and maybe pitch in a request for you to begin training as a Spectre?" She told him, smirking at the flat look that the man had giving her in return.

"Why me as a Spectre? I'm good and all, but there are people out there who are infinitely more qualified to be one than I am. Besides that, I have to buy my own shit and last I checked, I'm practically poor."

"Well for one your regenerative abilities, yes I've heard about them, two you're black ops, that much is obvious, three you're capable of fighting off krogan with your bare hands, four you're imposing as shit, five you've got a sick setup with your armor and weapons, and finally you can definitely be a leader when the situation calls for it. How do I know this? I seen the footage of you and your squad back on Omega and how you assumed command and reeled everyone back into the fight with clear minds and calm demeanors. Point is Devin; you'd be perfect for the position. Besides, it'd definitely score you points with the Sparatus family and whoever else is out there whenever you and dear sweet Tulma comes out as a couple… that and Spectres can go to any fine dining establishment and get seats immediately for however many guests they want. When was the last time you treated her with a night out that she enjoyed thoroughly?" She explained, throwing some very good points at the man and even going as far as manipulating his feelings so that he would most likely accept, or at least think about her offer.

Groaning into his hand, Devin rubbed his forehead as he dragged his hand down his face, then looked at the smirking woman with narrowed eyes.

"You're manipulating my feelings; a low blow, if you ask me."

"Why I don't even know what you're talking about, Devin; I'm merely telling you the perks of being a Spectre."

The door opened once more, drawing both the occupant's attention as they seen it was the same woman from before as she strode over to the window and pulled the blinds over to conceal them, then promptly handed Devin a data pad as she told him to read it.

"What's this?"

"That is a written form from Chakwas explaining what I am going to be doing with Ms. Vasir, Devin. She signed it herself, as you can see at the bottom there, and with that being said I'm going to have to ask you to leave for her privacy." The woman held a smirk on her face, believing that she had won the battle and Devin had to admit, it WAS signed by the good doctor so that had meant something to him.

By something, it actually meant nothing and as such, Devin casually looked at the woman and snapped the data pad in half with his left arm, not even bothering to look at it and the glass that was now lodged into his hand, as he stared at her shocked face with narrowed eyes.

"This doesn't mean jack shit to me lady; whatever you need to do, do it now because I'm not leaving this room."

"That will be a breach of privacy, and the patient-"

"Look lady, I don't care if he's in the room or not; I'm not bashful in the slightest and if he wants to see my tits and my azure, then I'll show them to him. Point is, he can be in here while you do your thing and I don't mind it one bit." Tela told the woman, her arms crossed over her chest as the woman groaned in frustration.

"You two aren't going to make this any easier for me, are you? Whatever, it's a bed-ridden traitor and diseased freak in wheelchair." She said aloud, reaching into her lab coat and pulling out a carnifex hand-cannon.

Before she could do anything, the room echoes with three gunshots, Tela jumping at the sudden noise as the woman's chest violently exploded as Devin shot her twice and the last shot to her head, painting everything within two meters in her blood, skull fragments, and brains.

Tela could only stare on in shock at the grotesque display before shaking it off and holding her head in pain, groaning as her hearing was surely damaged and experiencing tinnitus.

Devin could only groan at having blood stain his white shirt, holstering his boltok as he stared at his shirt in mild contempt.

"Great… now I'm going to have get another shirt."

"You're worried about a shirt while a literal _body _is on the floor and blood is splattered all over the place?" Tela asked the man, seeing as he had a frown on his face while he only nodded to her question.

"But… it was comfortable."

"You're unbelievable."

And that was when several people came in through the door, weapons raised and ready for any contact, Chakwas, Jay, and Miranda being in the group as well.

Looks like Devin is going to have to explain exactly what happened and why there is a mutilated body staining the floor.

That, and he needs a new shirt.

Maybe while getting a new one he and Tulma can figure out how Jay got here, maybe shed some light on what all he did before they found him and what had happened during the fight with Morinth back then. Even what happened with Kasumi.

Today's going to be a busy day, that's for sure.

* * *

Today is a busy day for Shepard: Hagalaz turned out to be the planet that the Shadow Broker is hiding on, but the planet is constantly changing temperatures on a whim, the oceans boil and snap freeze every day, the meridian of the planet is constantly experiencing multiple mega storms that can mask a ship's readings and signature, said storm is currently throwing lightning bolts at them as if Zeus himself was pissed, said lightning almost fried Shepard, Liara had taken control of the mission as soon as they had landed, and he had just gotten word from Joker that one of the operatives that the Shadow Broker had planted on his ship was found and promptly killed by Devin and that cleanup was currently going on.

Without missing a beat, he knew that the man had used one of his own weapons instead of a standard issue one; Joker never uses the term cleanup to describe body removal, the term he uses for that is disposal.

Disposal means body is generally in one of two pieces, cleanup means gore galore.

**(Heh, that rhymed.)**

Sighing to himself and shaking his head, Shepard knew that Devin was only doing what was best at the time and that it had probably sent a message to the other operative to not go for Tela for a very long while, or at all.

Maybe; those types of people never really did get a hint when it was literally shoved in their face.

"How is your turret firing accurately with those missiles in this environment, Justin? The wind should just carry it off before it has a chance to detonate." Liara asked the young man, watching as Justin was fiddling with his omni-tool while avoiding gun fire.

"Well ma'am, that's the beauty of Boomer here; his on-board VI is so sophisticated that it takes in practically every scenario on the battlefield and corrects itself within seconds to find the best and optimal firing solution on any designated target. Everything from barometric pressure, distance, windage, rain, trajectory, environmental obstacles, and much more to ensure that the missiles hit their target! Observe." He told her, finishing typing out a command for his pride and joy and watching as it turned its barrels towards the YMIR mech that lumbered onto the battlefield.

It fired two missiles at it, but due to the environment and the sheer excessive wind speed, both of them missed their mark by a wide margin and careened out into the distance before exploding. Then, after a few seconds of the machine analyzing what had occurred, it fired yet another missile to gauge its new targeting system and miraculously the shot landed, stumbling the mech back a single step as Justin cheered on, before cursing suddenly as he dived down into cover yet again to avoid getting shot.

Shepard could only shake his head at the sight, a grin appearing on his face as he cooled down his weapons.

"Justin, you can stop trying to impress every new squad mate we get with your pet while we're surrounded by electrical pylons, on the hull of the Shadow Broker's ship, and currently getting shot at by their men. Besides, you can tell her all about it when we're back on the Normandy." He told the man, receiving a mock salute from him as he went back to shooting at the mercs that were being pushed back by the turret's firepower.

He really needs to get those schematics back to Hackett and Anderson, get them out onto production as soon as possible so that every unit in the Alliance can have one ready to be deployed when the reapers show up.

… now he wants to see how Justin's turret would fare against them.

"Hey Liara! Are you sure that hacking program you got on the door is even working?"

"It should be, Shepard; though it is illegal on Illium and didn't even come with a warranty."

"You tested it, right?" He asked, seeing that the woman had locked up from the abrupt question before quickly going back to shooting the mercs.

"Here comes more of them."

"Tell me you tested it, at least!"

"No time!"

A round whizzes by Shepard and hits the wall beside him, causing the man to get back into cover as he hits the thermal release on his rifle once again.

There were still over a dozen combatants left on the field, including a heavily damaged YMIR, that the three of them needed to take care of as they waited for Liara's door hack to finish, but with how many well-armed mercs there are, and all of their high-end guns, Shepard was beginning to get concerned about running out of thermal clips and if that happened, they'd have to rely on Justin's turret and their offensive abilities even more so than they already are. They just need to create a small opening so that they can grab the clips so that Justin and Liara can have a fresh batch.

'_There's an upgrade idea, if I ever thought of one.'_ Shepard thought to himself, preparing himself for a run to avoid getting hit.

Dashing out into the open, Shepard fires blindly into the cover that the mercs were using, suppressing them as he used his left hand to grab any clips that he could see and stuffed them into his carrying satchel before going back into cover, waiting for his weapons to cool down as he radioed Liara what he was doing.

"Incase you were wondering, I was getting you two some thermal clips from the mercs who won't be using them anymore, because we're an hour into this mess and I know for a fact that you two don't have unlimited like I do. I got like… six here so that should do you two for a little bit."

"_Not that we don't appreciate the gesture, Shepard, but it'd been better if all of us went together so that we can make sure that we have the thermal clips ready to be used at that moment, instead of waiting for you to get back to us."_ Liara told him, the sounds of her biotics being used in the background telling Shepard that she was most likely conserving ammo and had switched to her biotics to help with that conservation.

Then Justin joined in.

"_Unlike some people Shepard, I and Boomer appreciate your thoughtfulness."_

"See Liara? They appreciate me."

"_You both are just grown up children in uniform and holding weapons."_ She joked, laughing the objection that Justin had gave while Shepard tried to plan on how to make it back to them without gaining a few extra holes in his body.

"Justin, have your turret provide covering fire for me while I fall back to your all's position."

"_Got it, Commander! And… there! Now's your chance to get back here and give us some gun food, Commander."_

With that said, Shepard leapt from cover and sprinted across the hull of the ship, making sure to fire his rifle at the mercs to add more pressure on them to make his retreat more successful and jumped over a fallen pylon, coming to a roll as he crawled back against cover as Justin cheered him on.

"Nice roll." He commented, taking a thermal clip from the man and inserting it into the mattock that Shepard had given him.

"Thanks; I've been learning about how to properly roll and dodge while in a set of full armor and seeing as how Jay and Devin does it in armor that's twice this one's weight and how effective it seems, I thought I should give it a try." He told him, leaning out of cover for a moment to see how many is left.

The turret, which Shepard suspected would've happened sooner or later, had shut down due to overheating, the constant use that it's been going through for the last twenty minutes putting a strain on its systems finally catching up with it and causing it to shut down to cool off. That had put Shepard's plan in a sore spot, seeing as how they'd be reliant upon the thing for crowd control and to take on the bigger and more durable targets for them while they deal with the mercs.

"How much longer is this thing going to take Liara?"

"I… don't know, Shepard; but it should be soon, I'm sure of it!"

"I miss the days when you can slap omni-gel onto a keypad or a terminal and get through a crate or a door but no; everything had to change while I was dead. Stupid politics and stupid reforms."

"Not a lot of people were happy, that's for sure."

Justin had screamed which had gained the attention of both Liara and Shepard, both of them seeing that he had jumped out of cover and was currently carrying his turret back with him behind cover, all the while his shields were depleted and his armor sparking as rounds were glancing off of it.

Shepard, upon seeing that the man was trembling, carefully made his way to the young man, asking him what was wrong before seeing that a piece of shrapnel was sticking out the side of where the barrel and the frame met.

"No… no, no, no…" He muttered to himself, gingerly touching the piece before tightly gripping his hand, shaking the entire time as his breathing became erratic.

"They'll pay dad… they're all going to fucking pay _dearly_… I'll KILL YOU ALL!" He screamed, reloading his carnifex and equipping his mono-molecular knife within his other hand, making sure that all of his equipment was ready for the hell that he was about to unleash upon those who had harmed his baby.

Before Shepard could stop him, the man had leapt from cover and charged the remaining six hostiles with the intent to kill.

Things were about to get interesting.

* * *

'_Stab in between the third and fourth rib, twist the blade, and jerk out; this should guarantee the heart to get shredded on both human and asari targets, making this spot the perfect target for an easy kill.'_

'_Take knife and throw it into next target's unprotected shoulder, aim pistol and fire three rounds into the head to break the shield, tackle target and reclaim knife then use it to slit the throat. Target will lose consciousness in seconds followed by death a minute after.'_

'_Use this time to advance upon stunned hostiles, blood on blade can double as a poison against turians, use that for my advantage. Avoid incinerate blast, throw gun at him for distraction, dive into him and use free hand to deliver throat punch. As he grabs his neck, use knife to stab three times to the side of the stomach area, then finish him off with a stab to the neck.'_

'_Last three are panicked, firing erratically at me with little success; need to finish this and get into cover. Reclaim pistol, fire the rest of my rounds and holster it, grab biotic nullifier grenade and prime it for impact detonation, toss it and watch as it works against both asari, maybe both human, not the salarian. Charge them with a lift grenade ready, tossing, another success. Liara used a throw on one, sending her off the side of the hull; fell to her death. That leaves the last two, one of whom are ready for hand-to-hand.'_

'_Grab knife yet again, hold it in reverse, wait for her to strike. Dodge the attack she threw; sloppy, sluggish as well. Effects from the grenade? Possible. Might have to contact Mordin about this, see if we can enhance it further. Grab extended arm with both hands, one at the wrist and the other at the should, bring it down against the knee and break the elbow. Keep a firm hold and twist even more, target is no longer fighting back, push her to the ground and end her life quickly with her own gun with a shot to her head.'_

'_One left.'_

* * *

"JUSTIN!" Shepard called to the man, seeing that he was now advancing on the lone salarian who had threw his gun down and surrendered to them, but from the way Justin was walking to him, it seems as if he wasn't interested in taking prisoners.

He needed to stop this from getting badly out of hand.

He grabbed Justin's shoulder and turned him around, blocking the punch that was sent his way with his left forearm before headbutting the man, knocking him on his ass as he now cradled his broken nose.

Kneeling down to him, Shepard looked at him with pity as Justin lowered his head and held his eyes closed, shame covering his face as he refused to look Shepard in the eyes.

Looking at the salarian, Shepard tells him to leave before anything else happened, while Liara came to inform them that the door was now open and that they should head inside.

"I fucked up…" Justin said quietly, more to himself than to Shepard, to which the man shook his head.

"No, you just lost control of yourself for a moment there; emotional breakthroughs happen a lot on the field and I don't blame you, but you need to calm down." He told him, lifting him off the ground and placing his hands on his shoulder.

Before Shepard could react, Justin had grabbed ahold of him and held him tightly, his breathing labored as he shook.

"It's all I have left of my dad… I just… I just hate to think that it can be destroyed at any moment out here."

With him letting go, Shepard gave him a look of understanding, telling him that he understands the pain about losing his father very well, but regardless of what happened, he should always push forward for the man.

Justin could only nod at that, walking alongside the man and grabbing his helmet and putting it back on, all the while Liara looked at the man with mild uncertainty.

"Where'd you learn to fight like that, Justin? From what I can tell, you've never shown you were capable of doing any of that." She asked him, seeing that he had turned his head to look at her as he removed the shrapnel from his turret and placed it back within its container.

"I was in the Alliance Marine Corp for a year and a half, ma'am; passed basic and AIT with flying colors and was practically the top of my class. I'm a decent shot with automatic rifles, but I prefer a DMR any day of the week, but I was the best of my class in hand-to-hand; out of the two hundred and sixteen of us, I was ranked first out of all of them and had the privilege of applying all the skills we learned throughout the time I was there on one of the drill instructors. I beat his ass, simple as that. Went on after that to become an engineer, worked on my turret, and eventually landed a spot as an N1 recruit. Shortly after that, we were headed to the SSV Houston on the Citadel when Sovereign and the geth attacked, destroyed our ship, killed most of our men, my CO included, and left me with gunshot wounds and impaled on some piece of metal. That hurt a lot. They medically and honorably discharged me and sent me home after that mess was sorted through. I guess I still retained all the information from hand-to-hand training, though I don't like using it for obvious reasons." He told them, walking down the pathway as both Shepard and Liara listened intently about his story and how he was able to accomplish all he did.

"How old are you?"

"I'm only twenty-three, Commander. I'll be twenty-four in seven months."

"Damn, all of the messed-up shit only started happening to me when I was at least twenty-six or seven."

With Justin nodding his head, the three of them continued walking down the pathway, making several turns as they navigated the labyrinth that was the Shadow Broker's lair.

"Just how many of them are there?"

"Told you so."

"I'm gonna make a guess and say at least a dozen or so throughout this hallway." Justin said, firing his mattock down the hallway as the Shepard and Liara pushed forward to get closer so that the mercs wouldn't want to push them.

Within seconds, three are dead and seven more take their place as they come out of hiding behind pillars or barriers and fire their weapons at them, causing the three of them to sigh yet again.

Having to push forward and get back into cover every few minutes was getting very tiresome, so much so that Justin had came up with a very unorthodox method of bypassing them.

"You want to what?" Shepard asked him, looking at the man with confusion as Justin only nodded.

"You heard me."

"We don't even know where it goes!" Liara pointed out, her hands in the air as she gave her piece of protest.

"Which is why we have EDI mapping the way for us by letting her scan everything."

"And how would we accomplish that? Last I checked, the Shadow Broker probably has this entire ship a dead zone to outside scans."

"By having EDI connecting to this relay device-" Justin tried explaining, only to interrupted by Shepard.

"That's a camera that you tore off a wall."

"A camera that still has a CONNECTION to the ship's system! We have EDI hack into this thing, she can download the ship's layout and send it to us so that we can navigate through here!"

"Justin," Shepard started, his blank look slowly forming into an evil grin, "that has got to be the smartest thing that's come out of your mouth ever; let's do it."

"I aim to please. EDI, did you get all of that?" Justin radioed, hooking the camera up to his omni-tool and feeding it power so that it would activate.

"_Yes Justin, though I would advise you to remove the lens from the camera so that the security feed wouldn't show up on any monitor or terminal in the ship and reveal your location. That and I'll disable remote tracking so that they won't be able to find you while we're using it. Downloading now… done; sending a map layout now. Try not to die so soon; I'd hate to see the only gift you'll ever receive be wasted so soon."_

Everyone was quiet when they head that, staring at the camera with a perturbed look as EDI chimed in.

"_That was a joke."_

"Right… well, let's get in there; these vents won't lead us to the big guy themselves." Justin said, shooting the vent off and grabbing onto it, climbing inside as Shepard tossed the container in after him before promptly following his lead, with Liara shaking her head to herself at the incredulity of the situation, but ultimately deciding to follow along as well.

If you can't beat them, join them.

* * *

"How much further? It's getting cramped in here, you know."

"Six feet, so calm your tits, Commander."

"It's hot in here."

"Because you're working too hard on pushing yourself, Liara; do more of a sliding motion than a crawling one, it helps conserve energy."

"I WOULD'VE LOVED TO KNOW ABOUT THAT TWENTY MINUTES AGO!"

"Ow, no need to scream…" Justin pouted, bashing the vent open and dropping out of it and onto the ground, wiping himself off and stretching for a moment before catching the container that housed his turret.

Shepard and Liara made it out of the vent and sigh with relief, stretching and taking a moment to relax as they caught their breath before getting ready to move again.

With the three of them finally paying attention to where they were, Justin let out a whistle as he seen that they were in a very small supply room that housed thermal clips, grenades, and other supplies that a person would need to stock up on for their gear.

"We're headed towards the prison block, where they're keeping Feron…" Liara trailed off, looking at the map they had with disbelief, before diving into cover as a group of mercs came around the corner and began firing at them.

"That was fast." Justin commented, tossing the camera he had to the side as he drew his weapons and returned fire with vigor.

"I'm not surprised in the slightest, nothing ever goes right for us. Nevertheless, let's take care of these assholes and find Feron for Liara, after that we're killing the damned Shadow Broker once and for all." Shepard said, his Spectre shotgun ready and loaded as the three of them found themselves in a very tight and confined corridor against several hostiles.

Liara was getting desperate, as evident from her using her biotics to literally ragdoll people into walls and through windows, seemingly putting all of her force into the attacks as Shepard and Justin fired their weapons into the downed mercs or those who weren't hit with biotic energy.

Shepard used the butt of his shotgun to bash someone's head, firing the weapon into them twice as they tried getting back up and continued to follow closely behind Liara, his shields getting hit from both sides as Justin was taking care of everyone on his side with his scimitar shotgun.

While it wasn't as strong or as effective as Shepard's shotgun, it still did the job as it took down two mercs in one clip, but was starting to fall behind as when one merc fell, one or two more would take their place. It was beginning to get hectic, with how they were being surrounded on all sides by mercs who were out for their blood, when Justin once again came up with an idea.

"Hey guys, give me all of your grenades and any other explosives that you may have on you!"

"What why? It's way to packed in here to be using explosives."

"Trust me, Commander; I have some omni-gel on my omni-tool here and with the right know-how, I'll be turning our simple grenades into a very large, very powerful bomb."

Upon hearing that, Shepard smiled once again, handing the man three grenades and motioning for Liara to do the same.

"Thanks for believing in my stupid ideas yet again, guys. Now, keep me covered while I just prime and hash all of this together; it should only take about… twenty seconds, if that." He tells them, activating all the grenades and explosives that they had on them and dumping all of his omni-gel onto it, kneading the gel to where it contained all the explosives that they had on them into one big IED.

And with time to spare, Justin began hacking the locked door behind them, keeping his head down so that he wouldn't get shot by a stray, or not-so stray, round.

"How much longer do we got until we get through that door, Justin?!" Liara called out, throwing out a warp at a gas line and shooting it, causing it to explode and kill two mercs were unfortunate enough to be close to it.

"A minute, just hold out for a little longer!"

"We don't have a little longer!" Shepard told him, activating his omni-blade and dragging a merc who had charged him over their cover and then stabbed him in the head with the blade, going back to using his rifle to lay down a constant stream of death as Justin was beginning to sweat from the stress of the situation was taking its toll on him.

"Start shooting the gas lines! Don't question me, just do it!" Justin ordered once the doors opened, Shepard and Liara doing exactly as they were told before running into the hallway that the door led them to.

Justin had a grenade set on a timed charge of five seconds, with it primed and ready to explode once he let go of it.

With his arm curled back, Justin gave the twenty or so mercs a one-liner.

"Sayonara, bitches!"

With that said, he throws the grenade and sharply turns on the balls of his feet, sprinting through the hallway just as the grenade detonated, igniting the gas that filled the air that then caused to IED to explode, killing off everyone that was close enough to it and destroying the door that they had went through and causing the ceiling to collapse on top of it as well.

Justin had fallen to the ground after coming through the door at the end of the hallway, taking his helmet off so that he could breathe clearly as Shepard and Liara sat down against the wall to catch their breath as well.

Justin, without making an attempt to get up, gave a weak cheer of success, throwing his right arm into the air as he did so, before letting it fall back down on top of him.

"That… was the stupidest… most idiotic and asinine plan to have ever existed; thank god it fucking worked." Shepard said, laughing out loud as he grabbed his gear and slid Justin's turret to him.

"You would've forgotten that back there, had I not grabbed it."

"Thanks Commander, you're a life saver."

"Yep, now let's move on; don't want the mercs getting to us now while we're vulnerable."

With that said, Shepard, Justin, and Liara stood up and dusted themselves off, making sure that they had everything they needed before heading off deeper into the ship, each step bringing them closer to the Shadow Broker.

"FERON!"

The shout that came from Liara woke the drell up, the man wearily looking around as he tried to gain the bearings on his surroundings, before looking at the quickly approaching asari.

"Liara?" He asked aloud, his voice weak from the experiences that he had went through, as he looked up at the woman as she began looking over him and then went to a terminal and began typing commands into it.

"Just hold on, Feron; we're getting you out of this- this machine."

"No Liara, wait-"

Whatever he was going to tell her was stopped when the machine that he was strapped and connected to begin violently shocking him, causing the man to scream out and convulse in pain.

Liara stepped away from the terminal in shock, knowing that if she were to mess with it any more, then Feron would very likely die from the torture.

"I knew this looked too easy to be true; that thing is rigged to hurt Feron if someone was to try and free him from it. My guess is that the Shadow Broker has the key to getting him released from that machine and the only way to find it is to find the boss themselves." Shepard told her, placing a hand on Liara's shoulder as he looked towards the door on the opposite side of the room and back to Feron.

"He's correct Liara; this chair is connected to the Broker's info network and to get me out of it, you'll need to shut off the power. You try and pull me out now, my brain cooks." He warned, taking a moment to catch his breath as he laid his head back.

"The Broker will be waiting for you all, you know that right?"

"We're counting on it. Just sit tight for a little bit longer Feron, we'll get you out of this mess." Shepard tells him, giving the man a nod as he and the others readied their weapons.

"I'll try not to go anywhere," he joked before looking at a door behind them, his head motioning towards it, "that room is a supply room, in it should be thermal clips for all of your weapons and maybe a few grenades for you all, if you need them. This fight won't be easy."

"If it was easy, then it wouldn't be fun! Let's move out people; we've got to make light of a shadow." Shepard told them, heading through the door which Feron told them about.

"That was an awful, awful joke." Liara told him, receiving a laugh from Justin as Shepard silently mocked her.

Only one thing went through Feron's mind as they left the room to fight the Shadow Broker.

And that was electricity.

* * *

The room they had entered was dimly lit, numerous terminals activated and had information scattered all over every single one of them, but what had the group's attention was the figure who was seated at the far end of the room, sitting patiently as they were reading and scrolling through various articles of information as Shepard, Justin, and Liara had their weapons trained on the elusive figure.

The Shadow Broker.

Upon getting closer to the man, they realized that he was no ordinary citizen of the galaxy, in fact he didn't look like a species that neither Shepard or Justin has seen before.

Liara, on the other hand, knew exactly what he was.

Before Liara could open her mouth, the Shadow Broker beat her to the punch.

"So… I assume you're here for the drell, aren't you Liara T'Soni? Reckless, even for you Commander Jonathon Michael Shepard."

"So you know my name, big whoop; it isn't like everyone in the galaxy knows it already. Besides, being reckless got me this far in life: from surviving Akuze, defending Elysium, stopping Saren, coming back from the dead, and now standing before the great and powerful Shadow Broker. Come to think of it, I'd say that's success in this day and age." Shepard remarked, his signature grin on his face as he kept his weapons trained on the behemoth.

"Regardless of what you call it, Vasir was still successful in her mission, even with her betrayal; she brought you two back to me and as such, I can finally send your body to the collectors, Shepard, and get rid of T'Soni once and for all. Besides, Ms. T'Soni, Feron betrayed me when he gave Shepard's body to you and he is now paying the price that comes with betrayal." He retorted, bringing up a display for everyone to see as he motioned to it.

"You may be thinking that this was bound to happen sooner or later, but the fact is that this isn't the first time that someone infiltrated this ship and succeeded in their mission, and I am not the first Shadow Broker. Not only that, Commander, but the offer with the collectors still stands. But enough of this idle and redundant conversation; I don't have the time to waste on humoring you three any longer and there's business that I need to attend to."

"You're pretty confident for someone who has nowhere left to hide." Liara said, stepping closer to the thing as it only scoffed it in return.

"You travel with interesting and rather fascinating companions, doctor; the prototype sentry gun that your friend carries would be a major boon for defenses across this ship and would sell well amongst the militaries and mercenaries of the galaxy."

"You're not putting a hand on anyone, besides you're not the only one who has information on people here: you're a yahg, a pre-spaceflight species quarantined on your homeworld, after you massacred the Council's First Contact party. This ship and its base are older than your planet's discovery, meaning that sixty odd years ago, you were brought here and kept as trophy by the previous Shadow Broker then took over, after killing the person. Not only that, but you were a slave… or a pet for that entire time. How am I doing so far?"

After finishing that analysis, the three of them watched as the yahg stood up from his seat, towering over even the krogan, before slamming his armored hand down, breaking the desk in half before using one of the pieces and throwing it at the group.

Shepard and Liara dived out of the way, but all Justin could do was stand and wait as the table slammed into him, throwing him back more than a dozen feet before coming to a stop as he lied motionless on the ground.

"JUSTIN! You'll pay for that you son of a bitch!" Shepard screamed, his rifle kicking against his shoulder as he fired at the yahg who simply took the gunshots with a grain of salt, grabbing a revenant machine gun with one hand and fires it back at both Shepard and Liara, causing the two of them to get back into cover to avoid getting hit.

"He has impressive strength; I'll give him that much." Liara dryly commented, her face grim as she looked at Justin's motionless body.

"He doesn't dead," she told Shepard, motioning for the man to take a closer look at his chest, "but he isn't going to be feeling good in the morning when he does get up. We need to finish this fight soon or else we're not going to make it."

"I know that Liara, but we need to hit this bastard with everything we got; that's why I'm using the Cain."

"Shepard-"

"I have three shots with this thing, but I need you to pull Justin to safety and well out of the blast radius; besides, he's pissed me off enough this week."

Nodding at what Shepard had told her, Liara readied her biotics as Shepard leapt from cover, his rifle firing at the yahg as Liara pulled Justin's body far from the fight, accidentally causing him to hit a few more pieces of debris while silently cringed about not meaning to do that.

Shepard had overheated his rifle twice now, the Broker's shields finally collapsing and making the thing growl at him in frustration, causing it to shoot directly at the man as Shepard narrowly avoided the shots as he dived out of the way and behind a pillar.

Grabbing the Cain, Shepard pointed it at the ground and held the trigger, causing the barrel to open and expand out, a red and orange glow coming from the inside as the eezo capacitors overcharge the slug to its maximum potential.

When Shepard heard the signature ding come from the weapon, he turned the corner and watched as the slug came out of the barrel and almost instantly collided with the shocked yahg, causing the room to become bathed in a flash of light and a large explosion that shook the room that they were in, no doubt causing damage to the structure surround them.

When the light died down, it was revealed that the yahg had used a form of shielding to protect him from the hit, but not without harm as it appeared that blood was coming out of the weirdly shaped mouth as he was panting in exhaustion.

Liara took a chance and fired several shots from her pistol at it, but to no avail as the rounds merely deflected off the barrier and into the walls.

Cursing to herself, she tells Shepard that the barrier was kinetically sensitive to attacks and would deflect energy and gunfire while it was active.

"Guess we do this the fun way then." Shepard growled out, popping his neck and his knuckles as he ran towards the immobile yahg, breaking the shield and landing a few punches on its face before it could recover.

When Shepard went for the last punch, the yahg had formed an omni-shield and used it as a battering ram against Shepard, hitting the man with his full force and sending him flying as he roared in anger.

Shepard could only chuckle as he pulled a tooth from his gauntlet.

"What's the matter? Did that hurt?" Shepard taunted, dangling the tooth in front of him and putting it in his side satchel for safe keeping.

It's not everyday that you get to punch the Shadow Broker and keep one of his teeth as a trophy.

"Now's not the time to piss him off, Shepard."

"Too late."

With the Cain cooling off, Shepard and Liara dedicated their rime to avoiding the pissed of yahg for as long they could, the two of them flanking from both sides as they continued to lay down fire, whittling the shields down until they were depleted, which prompted Shepard to use the Cain against him but was ultimately stopped when the nigh-impervious barrier formed over him, rendering the plan useless as it had proved to have been able to withstand a shot from it already.

Groaning in frustration, Shepard once again charged the yahg, ramming into him as it had pushed back against him and ultimately won the battle of strength as it had once again used its shield to bash Shepard into Liara as she came in to help the man fight off and win the fight.

Groaning in discomfort and pain, Shepard had looked around and discovered that his Cain had been knocked off of him as well, landing somewhere near Justin as Liara quickly helped the man get back up to his feet before the two of them quickly dived into cover once more.

"How are we supposed to get through that damn barrier so that we can kill this fucker!" Shepard cursed out loud, slamming his fist into their cover as Liara took a long look at the machine in the center.

That was when it struck her about what they needed to do.

"Shepard, do you see that thing in the middle of the ceiling?"

"The light show? Yeah, what about it?"

"If you can get him to bring up his shield once more, I've got an idea that should work for us." She informed, her biotics glowing in anticipation at what she had planned.

Shepard, somewhat knowing what she was going with but not fully understanding what was going to happen, nodded his head in understanding, his weapons ready as he grabbed them and raised them towards the Shadow Broker.

If they wanted to make sure that he was going to die, then he needed to make sure Liara had everything prepared.

And Shepard always made sure everything was prepared for his friends on the battlefield.

* * *

All Justin could do was groan in pain, taking his helmet off and grabbing his head in pain as he twisted and turned on his side to see what was going on.

It appeared as if Shepard and Liara was fighting space bigfoot and that Liara was doing something to the lightshow that was going on above all of them.

Turning his head, he seen that Shepard's Cain was lying on the ground only a few feet from him and that it appeared to still have some charge left in it.

Slowly putting one arm in front of the other, Justin slowly, groggily, and painfully dragged himself to it and grabbed it, flipping to his back as he seen Liara attempting to break to light.

He didn't know why she was wanting to break something that was solid, but he was pretty sure that she was breaking the thing _holding_ the light in.

His headache suggests that he has a concussion.

With that thought in mind, he shakes his head to get a clearer picture on the scenery before him as he began charging the cannon of death, which caused Liara to turn and look back at the noise that it was making.

"Ma'am… I would advise you to move, please." Is all that he said, holding the trigger for a few more seconds as Liara's eyes shot wide open in alarm as she quickly scrambled to get well out of the explosion.

With the charging reaching its climax, Justin let go of the trigger, sending the slug straight into the light and detonating it, causing not only the intense heat and explosion to practically disintegrate the yahg's armor, but the energy released from the machine had encompassed the thing and practically vaporized it, with everyone on the ground from the amount of damage that was wrought within the room.

Justin could only say one thing, just as darkness was surrounding his vision yet again.

"Heh, stole your kill."

* * *

**That's this chapter and it officially marks the end of the Shadow Broker dlc! Sorry again for not posting an update, but this chapter is nearly 10k words long, without author's note, so I guess having a long chapter is better than nothing right?**

**Like I said at the top, next chapter is all about Jay and his experiences in the ME universe and in his pov as well.**

**Not much to say, so I'll see you all next time!**


	26. A Recollection of Events

**I'm genuinely upset with my isp at the moment: I was ready to get this chapter up and posted a couple of weeks back, but they decided that it was the perfect to come by and shut it off. Evidently I had late fees and other notices that were due without me knowing about them not receiving any mail about anything that was wrong. Turns out, there was an error in their system that showed that I still owed them money, when that was a late fee from last month that I paid in full, but someone, somewhere, didn't get the memo that my service SHOULDN'T be shut off. That and the Covid-19 virus that is currently going through the country has everything in a mess, which made my situation more complicated than what it needed to be.**

**Life just gets to you sometimes, you know?**

**Moving on from that, this chapter was tedious as hell to get through and I'm not really satisfied with how everything turned out: I had written and rewritten this entire chapter several times over, scrapped ideas, added some, removed entire sections and replaced them with others, reworded everything else, and still had make sure that all of the points in the chapter were met.**

**Basically, over forty thousand words went into this nine and a half thousand word count chapter.**

**Mind you, this chapter takes place DURING the last one, similar to a chapter that acted as filler while Shepard was doing Miranda's loyalty mission.**

**Review Time:**

**Blaze: Most of the time, these people get used to the fact that they work for someone so powerful that they forget common sense and all logic goes out the window once they're assigned an "easy job" that needs to be done asap. Considering that she was meant to take out a "broken" Spectre and a "cripple", it can be assumed that she could get through with this mission with ease. She was wrong.**

**Guest: Generally, most chapters from here on out will be above the five thousand word count (most often it's always above six thousand), but with this new update schedule, yeah it SHOULD be safe assume that these chapters will be a bit longer. As for them getting employed by Liara after Shepard gets arrested, sadly no, but they will stay in touch with her. Devin and Jay will do their own things after Shepard leaves.**

**Captain: Which is exactly why this Shepard has his old gear Spectre gear back! The whole "we don't use magazines because they add unnecessary weight to our gear, we use thermal clips because they function in the same exact way as a magazine" was a big pet peeve for me during my many playthroughs of ME2 and 3. And the system you described was exactly what my friends and I thought as well. As for Justin going Sherlock and Johnny Cage on those people, I'm glad that at least one person caught that. I envisioned him as a happy go lucky individual that would rather talk his way through things if it meant that everyone can go home that night, but if it came down to it, when the man snaps, his military training takes over and he goes on autopilot as he lets his training take over his actions. Think of it as a form of PTSD from the Elysium raids.**

**Dark: Glad to finally have caught your attention after all these chapters! Hope they live up to your expectations and thank you kindly for the compliments!**

**Here you go Blaze, hope this chapter is to your liking, even after all that's happened to it.**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Six: A Recollection of Events**

"Hey Devin, what did you call me in for?" Jay asked, walking through the elevator doors as he seen both Devin and Tulma at the small table near his bed, both of whom had a serious face on their features.

After being waved over by the older gear, Jay walked over and pulled out a chair for himself to sit in, raising an eyebrow as Devin stared at him with both hands clasped together on the table.

Before speaking however, Tulma had nodded at Devin and placed a fairly decent sized device on the middle of table, activating it via her omni-tool as the machine came to life, producing a dull droning noise as Tulma proceeded to place a couple of spare power cells close by for future use.

Future use as in they're going to be used for whatever this session is about.

"This machine completely scrubs any audio that is currently recording us; EDI, for example, isn't able to hear us. Just watch." Devin tells him, motioning to the device as he looks around the hanger bay.

"Justin made this device specifically for use on the Normandy; how he got it to work I'll never know. For instance: Hey EDI, did you know that Joker has developed yet another kink in the form of synthetic or android women? I'd watch out from here on out."

The room is met with silence as the dull, low droning noise is the only thing audible as Devin nodded to himself in satisfaction.

"… is that even true?" Tulma asked, the look on her face is the equivalent of mild disgust and slight concern that Jay also had on his.

Devin laughed as he shook his head at the question, telling them that it was something that he had made up, but wouldn't be surprised if he did turn out to be into that stuff.

"I do advise wearing a helmet or something that can mask your mouths, because I'm like a hundred percent sure that EDI can read lips and turian vocal patterns from footage."

Jay can already tell that this was going to go deep; if they were wanting and willing to go this far to make sure that the resident AI couldn't be hearing or reading up on their conversation, then it was going to be about something private.

"Now that we all have our gear on," Devin started, his helmet firmly secured on his head as Tulma equipped hers, leaving Jay wearing a simple face mask to conceal his lips, "you're going to tell us how you came here; I believe that we already discussed this, but it was never in great detail. And this machine is only going to be used for the first portion of this conversation, okay?"

Jay, for his part, remained stone faced at the question, only averting his eyes to Tulma as the two of them waited patiently for him to answer.

"Don't be worried about Tulma here; she and Garrus are already aware of us coming from Sera, that we were in the COG, and everything else in between. Now, with that out of the way; we both know you were at the Ilima City ruins, found the teleporter and came here. What we don't know is what you've done since then, before Shepard, Samara, and I found you standing over Morinth's dead body. And while we're at it, tell us what happened with Kasumi, because I noticed that she seems to be… fulfilled or content for whatever reason."

Jay was slightly taken back at the revelation that there were two others abord the ship that knew about his and Devin's origins, but ultimately decided that the man had a good enough reason to let them in on their secret.

Taking a deep breath, Jay asks if there was any water around because it was going to definitely take awhile for him to explain everything.

* * *

Jay held his head in pain, groaning and nearly throwing up after taking his helmet off as he propped himself against a couple of crates that came with him, looking around as he tried to make sense of where he was and how he had got to where he is now.

"Is this… is this somewhere near Jacinto? In it even? Jacinto should've been sunk… unless it's a fortified bunker, which is plausible. But… working lights?" The man spoke to himself, looking around as he had no idea on his current whereabouts, but figured that he needed to check and see what were inside the crates as he was hoping that he left nothing important behind.

The first crate that the man propped open held a single robot, though heavily modified than its counterparts, and the other one held something that was functionally more valuable, a fabricator that he "_borrowed_" from his time working under Jinn.

Closing both crates and making sure that they were promptly secured, Jay had discovered that his boltok and torque bow had traveled with him, prompting the man to grab them and make sure that they were still in functioning condition before scouting the surrounding area for anything that could tell him about where he was. He was hoping that he could find a way back to wherever he came from, if not, then he'll have to do it the old-fashioned way.

Walking back home.

It had been a couple of hours, with Jay back in the alleyway that he had found himself in, and the man had to take a seat on one of the crates as the revelation that he was no longer anywhere back home and had found himself in an unknown, potentially hostile environment. He needed to find somewhere safe to store his gear and act as an impromptu base of operations for him.

He also needed to find this 'Doctor Maynard' guy that used the teleporter before him and see if he could replicate what had happened and to see if he could find his way back. If he was still alive.

From the terminal that he was able to bring back to life and read through, the last time it was used was nearly thirty years prior to the man finding the ruins, and that whoever did use it, most likely the good doctor, had arrived where he was at as well.

With a mission in mind and a plan set, Jay hopped off the crate he was sitting on and broke it open once again, this time fully removing the mech that was inside of it and activating it, watching as it sprang to life and the lights all across it were activating one by one until they glowed their signature COG blue colors, much to Jays excitement that his favorite project was still functioning entirely.

"Cavalry!"

"Lieutenant Scott, Cavalry unit is online and awaiting orders, sir." It told him, giving the man a salute as the man returned it swiftly, watching as it dropped its robotic hand and equipped the modified hammerburst rifle that it had with it, as Jay grabbed its secondary weapon and presented it to it.

"Cavalry, I'm going to be completely honest with you: we're in unknown territory surrounded by unknown beings. Your orders are to help me establish a suitable location to act as our base and to help me carry this heavy son of a bitch to said established base. Those two are your primary orders and your secondary orders are to ensure that no one tries to interfere with what we're doing and once we've established said base, I'll need you to secure it. Understood?"

"Sir, Cavalry unit is ready for the mission and will ensure that all primary and secondary orders are followed through!" It told him, saluting once again as it had put a heavily reinforced and modified riot shield on its back and grabbed the handles on the side of the unopened crate with it left.

With Jay grabbing the other end, the two of them lifted the crate with slight effort, with Jay grunting at first and Cavalry staying silent the entire time, the two of them had set off to look for their new home, which would hopefully be free of any rodents and other undesirables that could complicate their plans.

Too many complications have happened already and Jay doesn't want any more of them going on right at his feet.

"Hey Cavalry, this looks like a decent spot to occupy." Jay tells his robotic companion, gesturing to a rundown and abandoned building that looked as if it had a second floor that could be used as storage.

What he was going to use the first one as was unknown to him, at the time.

What he was going to do with the first floor, he didn't know yet; maybe use it as a mechanical shop so that he could fix his gear and keep them maintained, now that he thought about it.

With this in mind, he and his companion pick up their pace so that they could begin fixing up their newly discovered home, with hopes that it'd be enough to house everything they'll need to get back to Sera.

Jay had walked around the district in which he found himself in, keeping his eyes open and alert to anything that'd interfere with what he had planned.

* * *

It'd been a couple of weeks since he's been here and from all that he's learned about the station of Omega, crime drastically increased with the destruction of Archangel's hideout and his top lieutenants shortly before or after his arrival. Whichever one was true, Jay didn't know; all he knew is that after interrogating a batarian, there was a shipment of newly captured, or recaptured, slaves that were in the process of being led onto the small frigate that was surely headed back into batarian space.

Jay didn't know about what was going to happen to them once they've left, but from what the now dead batarian told him, he was definitely going to have to have some backup with this mission.

He may have been a gear, but he's going to need help to take on a crew of a few or more dozen slavers and however many slaves.

He's going to need a few shepherds for this one.

"We all set for this, Cavalry?"

"Yes sir, all DB units and the one Dr-1 are ready for engagement on your orders." It responded, its modified head appearing that of the standard issue COG helmet from the end of the Human/Locust War.

From all that he's seen of them back home, they were readily more greeted and welcome than the standard DB counterparts that you'd find anywhere else at the settlements.

Raising his hand in anticipation, Jay closed it firmly then pointed onwards, signaling the other robots to begin their attack and to make sure that they follow all of their orders to the letter about saving as many of the slaves as humanly possible.

He wasn't about to let these people become tortured servants for the remainder of their lives.

With the attack commencing, eight DB's, a DR-1, Cavalry and Jay sprang from cover and expertly gunned down any slaver that didn't make it into the ship in time, leaving a handful of slaves outside, which a few of the robots stayed behind to watch.

With everything else secured, Jay motioned for all of them to assault the frigate and to leave the captain alive for questioning, afterwards the DR-1 and Cavalry can go and locate wherever they're keeping the captured slaves and to notify him immediately of anything happening or if something was discovered on their way.

With synchronization, all the robots saluted the man immediately, readying their weapons and portable cover as the DR-1 began prying the docking bay hatch open with its bare hands and brute strength, getting the door open halfway before two more joined it and helped fully open the doors, keeping it held open for the remaining others to board the ship.

Jay could tell that this was going to be a cakewalk, given that he made sure to supply all of them with shield emitters that he had crafted from the fabricator, after getting a few and processing them through it, and enough ammo to make sure that this would be a breeze.

He felt somewhat sorry for the slavers that were trying to fight back, knowing that they're weapons were barely affecting the dense and durable armor that every DB came with, especially the DR-1, they'd have to have a weapon from Sera if they hoped to destroy one, or a heavy weapon that was fielded for dealing with heavy armor.

When he finished that thought, an explosion rang out through the main bridge, Jay peeking out of cover as he seen one of his mechs fall apart from one of the slavers handling a heavy weapon and reloading it, and as a result it had caused the other mechs to lift their combat shields, lowering a slot that was in it, and proceeded to fire their weapons through it, effectively protecting themselves and laying down suppressive fire at the same time.

(**Think of the shield as being a hybrid between Black Ops 4 gun shield, and Rainbow Six Siege Montagne's shield and the deployable cover all in one, except when deployed, movement speed is drastically reduced.**)

Pushing up from there, Jay kept his down as the wall of bulletproof mechs made their way to the line where the slavers tried in vain to break through, many of them either having to reload their weapons, getting shot to death, or retreating to the back of the ship or its lower levels.

It wasn't enough, however, when the DR-1 stopped the elevator doors from closing and began forcefully prying them back open with its size and strength, allowing all of them to get gunned down as there was no chance for escape.

With the bridge finally secured, Jay attempted to get into a terminal to see if he could gauge just how many personnel there were aboard the ship before the attack commenced.

* * *

"So… what you're telling me is that the COG now fields heavy infantry and other fields of tactics in the form of armored mechs?" Devin asks, his head tilted as he watched as Jay nodded his head in confirmation, telling him that it's been like that for the better part of eight or nine years.

"That'd been useful for clearing out locust-controlled areas. Moving on from that, what happened afterwards?"

"Well, after we got into their system, we learned that the slavers were cowering all throughout the ship, maybe thirty in total, waiting and setting up choke-points so that they could corral us into a kill-zone. It didn't work; having a DR-1, Cavalry, and multiple DB units working in tandem guarantees that you'll be able to push through any choke-point that you meet with dangerous efficiency, lethal even. We found out that the captain was hiding in his quarters at the top of the ship, a small squad consisting of what he called his _'elite guards_' and were waiting for us to breach the room. We kinda did, in an unorthodox way; after clearing the pens in the cargo bay, I had six mechs to charge through the doors, while I went through the vents and tried to get in behind them. The rest of the mechs that survived were either gathering the parts that were left behind by those that were destroyed or were guarding the pens. Long story short, they were collecting slaves and planning on selling them on the black market but we stopped them before anything could happen. After they were all released, many of them left to try and find something to do with their lives, I gathered all the credit chits and supplies that I could, sold the captured ship to those who wanted to leave the station, and went back to my base and opened up a repair shop for tools, weapons, armor, and other things as well. The few that stayed with me wanted to help me set up shop there and after that, I employed them when we opened up. Right now, I have Cavalry running the show, considering I tinkered enough with him so that he could make his own decisions and that my staff didn't seem to mind." Jay explained, recollecting all of the events that had happened that day and how he had first settled down on Omega, and when questioned about what had happened with Morinth, Jay was all too eager to explain how it exactly went down.

"Well, it started like this…"

* * *

"We sure that our target is in there?"

"From reports and surveillance that we've gathered inside, the ardat-yakshi going by the name Morinth is indeed in this club, possibly hunting or seducing her next victim. It is unclear who it is, but we're sure that they'll be somewhere dark and out of the way." Aneyis, an ex-Eclipse asari mercenary told him, her omni-tool sending the man all the information that he needed as the man in question made sure that his gear and his mechs were combat ready.

"Good, very good. Anything else?"

"Why in the hell do you use those relic weapons? You're not secretly that guy that was in Archangel's vigilante group, are you?"

Jay laughed at that, telling her that he had no idea who Archangel was and that the weapons that he had were a one of a kind, not one of humanity's old chemical weapons.

With nothing else being said, Aneyis gave him a once over and waved him through the doors and told him to kick ass and take names, shaking her head as the man laughed and grabbed his explosive bow as he entered through one of the maintenance doors.

With the sound of music, drinks and glasses clinking together, and people chattering, it was easy to see that the dark lighting made it difficult to see what was happening in the shadows, but briefly bringing up his omni-tool, Jay activated a program on it that enhanced his visor's sensitivity to where it could see better in low-light environments; the only downside was that it lasted roughly ten minutes, and with the amount of people in the club and in the booths, he didn't have time to waste.

After searching for roughly six minutes, he had found his target conversing with a rather large man wearing armor that vaguely familiar who seemed relaxed on the surface but was ultimately on edge the entire time, hinting towards some form of military background that he had.

Considering who and what he was dealing with, Jay somewhat wanted the man to follow his gut instinct and get the hell away from her, but ultimately cursed under his breath as he seen the woman beginning the meld shortly after the man had finished his sentence.

Readying his torque bow, Jay had charged it to the max, sending the explosive projectile near the two and watching as it exploded, sending both people flying as they were surely dazed but not dead.

'_Please make an orderly line and leave the premises immediately: this area is now under fire._' Jay heard one of the mechs announce, it waving its arms towards the nearest exit as more of them began swarming the club to try and cut off their target from escaping the area and out into the galaxy once again.

Jumping down from the catwalk, Jay came to a roll as he quickly equipped his boltok and fired it at the retreating killer, successfully hitting her in the shoulder but quickly cursed as a shield or barrier stopped the bullet just enough to ensure that the round wasn't lethal.

It still had to hurt though.

Running past everyone, Jay and a few mechs followed with him as they quickly ran after the woman to catch her before she escaped.

They had followed her closely behind as she had entered a warehouse of sorts, possibly where a getaway vehicle was stashed and currently waiting for the woman.

With his mechs focusing entirely on getting the Eclipse merc's attention, Jay crashed through an office window then promptly kicked open the door that lead out of it, seeing his target speaking with an Eclipse merc and taking aim at the woman and firing his embar, watching as it had hit her head, effectively killing her as her shields couldn't hope to withstand the monstrous round that tore straight through it and her armor, reducing her head to a fine mist.

Seeing that his target had sealed off the doors, Jay had elected to use another torque bow round to see if he could blast the door open, but watched in dissatisfaction as it only caused cracks to appear in the reinforced glass.

He was going to fire some more at it, but was interrupted when rounds began hitting his own shield, causing the man to jump into cover to avoid taking any real damage.

He needs to kill his target before she leaves and these mercs were not helping him in the slightest.

Rounds started to ping off of his shield, prompting him to take cover behind a shipping crate, swapping his rifle out for his boltok and combat knife as they were his only close-ranged weapons. He waited for one of the mercs to get close to him before he made his move: whipping around the corner and jamming his knife as far as it could go into her neck, firing all sic of his shots into two others who were unfortunate enough to be close to the man when he began his attack.

Kicking the body away from him, he went back into cover and calmly reloaded his weapon as rounds were chipping away at his cover and the ground beside him, and looking down at the corpse that was only a few feet from him, Jay had seen that there was a shotgun that was still collapsed on her back and with nothing else to use at the moment for close range, Jay had elected to swiftly roll out of cover and grab it all in one move; deftly taking aim and firing two shots into the closest merc as he came to a stop.

Sensing that their target was no run-of-the-mill vigilante looking to make a name for himself, the Eclipse Sisters had elected to use their biotics against the man, hoping that it would be more effective than to just take him in a head on firefight which would most likely cost them their lives.

Jay had to make sure to take care of these mercs as soon as he could; because, at any moment, Morinth could escape at any moment and leave the station before he had the chance to get close to finish her off.

With him currently being thrown off of his feet, the man came to a roll stopped his momentum from knocking him over once again, looking up and seeing that three of the five mercs were using their biotics to knock him around as the others were firing at him in hopes of landing a hit.

Two can play at that game.

Getting into cover once more, Jay equipped his torque bow and began charging it, letting it cook for a moment before leaning out of cover and quickly zeroing on two mercs who were close enough to each other that a shot would most likely kill both of them.

And he did just that, watching as the explosive-tipped arrow was finally released of all the built up tension that the inner mechanisms of the weapon was applying to it, launching itself at extreme speeds and completely bypassing the barrier of the left asari, lodging itself deep into her chest and priming its second-delay fuse, giving the woman just enough time to look down at what had hit her and cough up blood before it exploded, instantly killing her and sending lethal shards and fragments from her armor into her comrade, dropping the woman out of the fight immediately as she had clutched her neck in vain to stop the blood that was freely flowing from the wound.

She died within moments.

Using the time provided by the sheer gory display of their comrades being butchered, Jay had charged the cover that they were using and leapt over it, planting his boot into a poor merc's chest and firing his shotgun into her head at point blank. With that one out of the way, Jay gets his weapon ripped from his hands as he looks up and sees that the two remaining mercs were now upon him, biotics primed and pistols drawn as they began their assault.

Ducking below the first swing, Jay used his right hand to push the pistol-wielding hand away from him and used his left hand to draw his knife, stabbing the woman twice in the ribcage and once through the stomach as he twisted his blade, the serrated knife doing its job perfectly as it tore straight her flesh and bone with extreme lethality.

Considering that it was designed to be used against the much hardier, durable, and larger locust back on Sera, he wasn't surprised that it had practically eviscerated the woman's insides with ease.

With the last merc now throwing everything she had at him, Jay knew that she was no longer a danger to him at this point and simply elected to backhand across the helmet as hard as he could before grabbing her head and smashing it against the ground, not killing the woman, but definitely concussing her all the same.

With the sound of robotic footsteps coming from behind, Jay turned and seen that it was Cavalry walking up to him, his chassis showing several scorch marks, warped metal, and scratches from the fight that had ensued in the main warehouse floor.

"What's the sitrep, Cavalry?"

"Sir, three individuals, one asari and two humans, are within the upper levels of the warehouse and seems to be after the target that you are currently after as well. DB-013, just before it went offline in the bar, reported that it had found a COG captain, but due to the report remaining unfinished as it was crushed immediately after this discovery, the facial scans were corrupted and other observations were lost as well."

Processing the information within his mind, Jay silently walked to the shuttle and began planting small explosives along the hatch, hoping that it'd blow it open and give him the chance to kill Morinth after a month of hunting her down.

The only way that the DB could've registered that someone was in the COG and that they were a captain was if the person they came into contact with was wearing something that displayed both their rank and the COG insignia out in the open. Given how there were several uniforms and armors that did exactly just that, Jay was beginning to get hopeful as he may have found the elusive Dr. Maynard that had originally designed and used the teleporter roughly thirty years ago.

He needed to find the man before he got too far.

With a detonator ready and primed in his hands, Jay and his companion took cover behind the ballistic shield and suitable cover that wasn't too far away from the shuttle and pressed the button on the top, hearing the decompression and ensuing explosion that it had caused, ripping the hatch from the shuttle as Morinth dived out of it, a biotic barrier formed over her as she gritted her teeth in pain, no doubt her ears (**or the asari equivalent**) being in pain as they seemed to be bleeding.

Jay took no chance and ran at the woman, diving at her just as her barrier failed, colliding with her harshly and sending both of them to the floor, with Jay attempting to stab her as she was on the ground, but was shocked as her biotics returned at seemingly full strength and actually pushed his hands and blade back before delivering a viscous elbow to the side of his helmet, knocking him off balance just enough for Morinth to flip him over her, jumping to her feet as she began attacking the man with vigor, screaming obscenities at him as Jay, for the first time in a while, had to fight on the defensive.

Morinth was relentless: being an asari who was at minimum 400 years old and had been honing and perfecting her biotics the entire time, and being an ardat-yakshi meant that her biotics were already superior that many of her peers.

Unlucky for Jay as he had to keep avoiding her attacks as they had homing properties and/or were going to hit him if he didn't move out of the way.

All in all, it wasn't a pleasant experience for the man as he hated fighting someone who knew exactly what they were doing in a fight.

'_I need an opening,'_ he thought to himself, rolling across a crate to avoid getting hit by both a throw and a warp at the same time, _'because this bitch is starting to piss me off.'_

And as luck would have it, that opening came in the form of her feet being spread too far apart, causing the man to quickly spring into action as he had suddenly rushed the woman, grabbing her outstretched hands and promptly yanking her towards him, bringing his arm up just in time to give her bone breaking clothesline, dropping her almost immediately.

He was about to finish her off right then and there, but had to dive back into cover as the doors opened at the far side of the room, revealing the three intruders that Cavalry informed him about.

"Your thoughts, Cav?"

"I advise that we wait here in the shadows to see what will occur."

"Roger that."

"You there, in the shadows! Step out immediately or you will be fired upon!" The smaller man immediately ordered, his rifle and the other two aimed at his position, with Jay silently cursing yet again before looking at his mech companion and telling him to hold tight and wait to see what happens.

"Chances of survival against this group aren't as high as the other encounters."

"Still a chance though." He quipped, equipping his torque bow and stepping out of cover, revealing himself to the group, but stopping himself from saying anything else as the large human had immediately caught his eye.

Especially the COG insignia and the captain ranks that were emblazoned on it, and the fact that the armor that he had was a one of a kind that very few individuals had ever received.

"You're armor… that's Onyx Guard… You there! What's '_The Golden Rule_'?" He asked the man, tensing in anticipation as he waited for the man's answer.

He hopes that he gets it correct, because he'd hate to-

"Take cover or die." The man immediately responded, causing Jay to breathe out a sigh of relief as he lowered his weapon and relaxed his posture completely.

He was definitely COG, that much he's sure about.

* * *

"And that was how we met: everything from that point on, you know for yourself. After leaving my mechs back at the shop and having the store looked over by my employees, I joined your all's cause because, at the time, I thought you were Dr. Maynard, but that was quickly dashed when you explained who you were and what all had happened that brought you here. Other than that, like I said, you know yourself." Jay told them, leaning back into his chair as Devin had grabbed the device again and primed it some more, telling him that he was resetting the timer on it so that he could explain what had happened with him and Kasumi while he was under.

"Yeah, I noticed that you two seem chummier with each other, more so than usual; what happened there?" Devin asked, his right hand cupping his chin as he look at Jay with a straight face as Tulma deactivated the machine that had virtually muted them to EDI as they began removing their helmets.

"Well, I had gone with her down to the planet where her personal mission was held. Turns out she was after a graybox that held her old partner's memories and that they held important information, what that is, I haven't asked her. Now, if you all got the time, I'll explain what exactly had went down that day while you were getting that mutated parasite out of your system." Jay told him, taking off his mask and grabbing a glass and lifting it to his lips, drinking its contents to ease his throat's discomfort.

"Here's how that went down…"

* * *

"I understand that you want to keep your… cowl, I think that's what it's called, on to conceal your identity, but don't you think that it would almost immediately raise suspicions from this Hock guy?"

"Now Jay, I understand where you're coming from, but if my face were to ever be shown-"

"No one even knows who you are! You're the best thief, not the most famous, remember?"

Kasumi, upon hearing that, rolled her eyes at the comment, putting a hand on her hip as she looked at the tall man who stood before her who was dressed in the finest white garments tailored by the best tailors in the galaxy, his black undershirt and white tie contrasting nicely with the setup, before sighing in defeat, reaching up to remove her hood as she now looked back up at him.

"I suppose you're right, Mr. _Gunn_, this is too important for us to get caught immediately." She told him, waiting for the man to make a response, but seen that he was still staring at her in stunned silence.

"You're…"

"Albino? Yes, it's a rare trait these days, I assure you; I even have the blood red eyes to boot. Lack of melanin within them and all that science-y stuff." She commented, looking at her reflection in the mirror as she heard the man clearing his throat.

"You look wonderful, beautiful even. But I guess we should actually get off this thing; you know, so that we can get what you need and get out of here. At least one of our _gifts_ is waiting for him."

Without a word, the two of them leaves the luxury sky-car, both of whom were walking down a red-carpet path as cameras from the crowds flashed, guests conversing with one another, and guards interacting with those who were either too rowdy or who weren't meant to be there.

All in all, Jay didn't like the whole uptight atmosphere that was coming from the place; his mind used to the gritty and grim world that he came from before coming here to this place.

All in all, he didn't like it; but it was for a friend, a quite attractive one at that, and he'd do a lot for his friends.

Coming up to the entrance of the rather large home that the main party was held, Jay let out a whistle at the shear size of the place, looking over the entirety of its exterior as he could imagine the cost of building, bills, and upkeep that it requires to be in this shape.

Though, considering who was hosting the party, it didn't really surprise him when it came down to the credits necessary to keep this all running.

Speaking of the devil, it appears that he had made his way to personally greet him and Kasumi as the two stopped and bowed their heads slightly in curtesy of the host.

"You must be Solomon Gunn, I presume? No worries about the statue that you brought as a gift; I personally told my guards to let it through, as I am a fan of the exploits that the late Saren Arterius participated in. The detail was also exquisite." He told them, waving a few guards away as he motioned for the two to follow him.

"I'm very glad you enjoyed the gift, Mr. Hock; it costed an arm and a leg just to ensure that it made its way to you… or several, who knows?" Jay told him, coming to a stop as the man started chuckling at the remark, a smile adorned on his face as he turned back to look at the man and his guest.

"I like the way you think, Mr. Gunn, but where are my manners? I don't think that I have been acquainted with your partner this evening."

Upon the comment, Jay promptly apologized to the man, telling him that it had slipped his mind as he was thinking about how the night will go and a few other business activities that he had in mind as well.

"Her name is Naomi Tanaka, and she is as pleased to make your acquaintance as I am. Now, I have yet another gift for you, Mr. Hock; something I'm sure that you won't mind one bit." Jay told the man, opening his coat and grabbing a small case and presenting it to the man, with Hock giving it his undivided attention as he simply raises an eyebrow in silent questioning.

Upon opening said container, Hock's opened up in surprise as he gazed at what was held inside.

"I'm very curious as to what this is, Mr. Gunn; mind explaining its functions for me?"

"Gladly; as you know, out in the Terminus, there are numerous individuals out there waiting for a chance to take what you got, or even you wanting what they have. This here was developed by my lead engineer and weapon's specialist to be designed for area and asset denial: the small cylinder you see houses over twelve highly conductive shards of charged metals that, once it has been activated and exposed to the oxygen in the air, produces a field of electricity that will completely fry and disable the internal circuitry of any mechs that are unfortunate enough to be caught within its area of effect. It was theorized that it could short out the biotics of an individual who had the genetics necessary to use them, but since this is still new tech, we haven't been able to actually test that side of the spectrum as of yet. As for normal targets? It should completely lock up the various muscle groups in anyone who comes into contact with it as well, but there is a chance that some extraordinary individuals could potentially power through the pain and move forwards."

Hearing the explanation of the grenade's capabilities did Hock let out a genuine smile, knowing that something like this would sell for millions to the numerous mercenary and military factions of the galaxy and he was one of the few people who has a working variant within their arsenal.

When asked about the design of the device and the chained handle that it was attached to, Jay explained that it was meant to act as a traditional bolo-style projectile, and with the nature of its design, it was designed to be able to be thrown far distances with minimal effort and be able to land behind occupied cover.

"What's special about this knife?"

"It's made completely out of osmiridium, a metal alloy that it extremely durable and able to withstand constant use. It, much like other military-grade combat knives, is mono-molecular, but as the case of its composition, shouldn't wear out as often as its counterparts. I do hope you enjoy it, as it is perfectly functionable for someone who wants to use it."

"Amazing; I am very pleased and humbled that you had these made and presented just for me. You and I will most certainly do business in the future, Mr. Gunn, on that I will assure you. But I must be off as there is a party waiting for us inside; do not let me hold you and your lovely guest any longer than I have. Enjoy your evening, and once again, thank you for the gifts." Hock told them, carrying the box that housed the grenade and the knife within his arms as he bowed to the two of them before leaving them to their own devices.

When entering the home, both Kasumi and Jay decided that if they were to blend in then they'd have to get something to drink at the bar and maybe something small to dine on as well.

"Does that knife really have any practical uses?" Kasumi asked, sipping on her wine glass as Jay held a cup of bourbon within his right hand.

"Oh absolutely; it's practically one of the best knives in the galaxy right now, due to its composition. It can carve through some harduits with ease, but for the heavy armor one's it'll have a little trouble with, but will ultimately get through it if given enough time."

"And what about Devin's armor? I notice that he had a knife that looks similar to the one you gave away."

"Right now? Eh… it'll probably get through, if the man stood still for longer than a minute. After the upgrades are finished on it, however, that thing will have zero chance of getting through it at all."

Kasumi could only smile at the thought, knowing that the big guy was going to be just fine once the armor was finished.

Tulma, the poor girl, had been through enough in the last week, so with him being extra safe was not only a good thing for her, but a good thing for Kasumi as well.

She hated seeing the people she cares for and the friends she has on the ship in distress, and that girl has been through nothing but distress ever since Devin had gotten out of surgery and into that coma.

Finishing her glass, Kasumi looked up at Jay and had asked him if he was ready to start what needed to be done first, to which the man responded with affirmation; ready to get out of the building and finding the graybox before it was too late.

All they needed was a password, a voice sample, and DNA samples in order to get into the vault, and Kasumi knew exactly how and where to get all three, and Jay was going to be the one to get them for her.

* * *

"Aha!"

"What? Did you find something?" Kasumi asked hurriedly, looking up from the lounge area as she seen the man holding onto a something.

"Nope, I found a credit chit with a single credit."

"You're unbelievable."

"And a credit richer than I was a minute ago."

Kasumi could only chuckle at the remark, understanding where the man was coming from.

Any profit, no matter how small, is still profit, after all.

* * *

"Mother fucker!" Jay harshly whispered, grabbing the merc's head with both hands as he slams it against the wall and into the display monitor, watching as it shattered and the merc remained slumped as his helmet was firmly stuck in it.

"You okay?" He hears from his omni-tool, causing the man to look down at his dress and notice that there were a few holes in it.

"Yeah, fucker just ruined the suit is all. Oh shit, almost forgot; the password for the vault is _'Peruggia_', whoever or whatever that is."

"That's the name of the man who stole the Mona Lisa."

"The what?" Jay asked, the name of both individuals completely unknown to him as he stood still in confusion.

"How have you not heard about the most famous painting of all time?!" Kasumi almost screamed at him, her compassion for the art and their history feeling attack by the ignorance of her compatriot as the man never seemed to bother himself with history.

"I'm not a history nerd, only a science and mechanical one."

"Shame on you."

* * *

"Oh my god, I was so tempted to just shoot the fucker right then and there; he just kept going on and on about how we're '_doing the dirty work for the better of the galaxy_'. Holy fuck, if he said business one more time, I was going to leave him there, go down to the statue, grab my gear, and commit wholesale slaughter towards anything that moves." Jay complained, walking down the stairs as Kasumi could only laugh in response, telling the man that he'd probably be doing the galaxy a favor by removing everyone single one of them from the picture.

"It'd certainly be easier, that's for sure." He comments, donning his armor as he undresses from the ruined suit as Kasumi takes her dress of and reveals her usual attire beneath, opting to wear a mask to conceal her identity as she normally does.

"Come on, no need to whine about it anymore; we're already through the hard part, so now all we have to do is get to the Keiji's graybox and… oh my god…" Kasumi whispered to herself, seeing what exactly was inside Hock's vault as she couldn't help but wander around and inspect each piece of art and scripture that the man had acquired over the years, ranging from ancient quarian script, Michelangelo's Statue of David, sculptures of turian and krogan design, and even the missing head of the Statue of Liberty.

There was so much in here that Kasumi momentarily forgot why she and Jay were in the vault until the man had cleared his throat, watching in amusement as the woman held to submachine guns to her chest and cradled them as if she would lose them if she were to let go.

"Having fun?"

"This is THE Kassa Fabrication Locust, the gun that killed two presidents! It even comes with a matching pair! Jay, we need to come back and get all of this when we leave." She tells the man, making sure to take pictures and videos of everything in the vault as she made a mental note to come back and get everything that she could.

Jay knew that she was dead serious about coming back too; the look in the eyes are what gave it away. So, with that in mind, he told her that he knows a few people who would gladly help make that a reality and that they'll do it for free as well.

"If you do that, then I'll kiss you right on the lips and dance all night with you."

"I'm looking forward to it."

While they were talking and trying to get through the encryption on the device, Hock himself made his presence known to the two, telling them that he was expecting them to show up sooner or later and that they shouldn't waste their time trying to get through the encryption.

"I knew you'd get in here as if I'd left it open. Now, I need your graybox if I am to get into your late partner's and you know I am willing to kill you for it. Regardless of what happens, you and your friend are going to die screaming, just as your partner did." He told them, obviously activating something in the background as Kasumi and Jay nodded to one another, getting into cover as mercenaries came through the set of doors at the far end of the room.

* * *

"I'm surprised that a man of his status and influence would hire Eclipse mercs to guard his precious belongings." Devin commented, knowing that they weren't really the best at guarding a vault that housed millions, if not billions of credits worth items that were literally one of a kind.

He's reminded of the time that he charged into the Eclipse hideout and killed their second in command back on Omega several months prior.

"No kidding, the man can afford to hire his own security force and have them trained to his standards and all he does is waste it on a few Eclipse mercs? Dumb and rich describes him perfectly, dumb and rich." Tulma followed up, her arms crossed over her chest as Jay only nodded his head in agreement, telling them that it didn't particularly make any sense to him, but it was his money that he was spending.

"So, what happened when those mercs came through?"

"Well, we had to deal with a few waves ourselves before they wisely decided that facing off against us was a pointless endeavor; too many of their numbers were cut down during that approach. So instead they just started sending out the large YMIR mechs that you can find at warehouses and other areas of importance at us, slowing us down by a lot, so we had to get through them fast enough to stop Hock from leveling the place on top of us. Thing is, this asshole had hundreds, and I mean _hundreds_ of these mechs waiting to be activated. Why he didn't do that, I'll never know. But, after thirty minutes of navigating the labyrinth beneath his home, we came to a port or loading area located outside of the entrance to the service tunnels and this asshole arrives in a fucking gunship and tries to turn us into mincemeat! Fucking hell, I wish we had a King Raven with us, show this fucker with a superiority complex what a real gunship can do…"

* * *

"There's… five or six mercs down here with us!" Jay informed Kasumi, ducking into cover as another volley of mass accelerator fire begins shredding the ground next to him.

"Besides, how in the fuck is this cock muncher able to pilot the damn thing?"

"Who cares? He's still a terrible shot regardless of how big his weapon is."

"Innuendo aside, how are we going to take him down?"

Kasumi took a peek out from her cover long enough to analyze the aircraft, ducking back into cover as a merc had tried to take her head off with his rifle, only to get his taken off by Jay's.

"It looks like an older model mantis; we get those shields down, target the glass at the center of the canopy with everything you've got, it's been proven to be structurally weaker there than anywhere else. If you're not able to do that, aim at the braces holding the thrusters; they're made out of a cheaper composite material that doesn't hold well against a lot of trauma! Oh and be sure to load disruptor ammo as well!" She told him, receiving a thanks for the information she provided as Jay grabbed a discarded viper rifle from a dead merc, seeing as she wouldn't be using it anymore.

With the rifle in his hands and the ammo type loaded, Jay went to work with pelting the gunship with rifle fire, having to get back into cover and reload when necessary as he either ran out and had to scavenge, or to avoid getting a closed casket funeral.

Both of which would suck immensely.

With the shields down, Jay switched to his torque bow and charged a shot, sending it off towards the gunship but to no avail as Hock was already descending to restore his shields and sending the explosive bolt through the air before it exploded harmlessly, causing the man to curse loudly.

"FUCK! Bastard has full shields again and I don't want to risk wasting more ammo for my torque bow. Any solutions?"

"Keep the mercs off me and make sure I don't get shot!" She told him, catching the man off guard as she began to use the boxes and pipes as a form of parkour obstacles, effortless maneuvering herself between each of them before coming to a stop on the uppermost pipe.

That was the part when she ran full tilt at the gunship and leapt through the air, twisting herself as she professionally landed on the canopy, her omni-tool activated as she sent the kill code to the shield system and permanently disabled it, giving the man inside the aircraft a cheeky grin as she gave a two fingered salute before jumping back down and coming to a roll beside Jay.

Jay, understandably, had no idea she was capable of doing what he had witnessed, much less with the amount of skill, grace, and flexibility that she had pulled off to accomplish such a feat.

"Wow… that was amazing."

"I know; you couldn't keep your eyes off me the whole time." She responded, giving the man a playful wink as she slid back into cover beside him.

"How'd the fuck did you do that? Cybernetic implants? Are you a secretly a machine or something?"

"Gravity here is much lower than Earth's, Jay; didn't you know that? Try to use the low gravity to your advantage and maybe you'll realize that your size and strength can be much more useful than elsewhere."

Jay nodded at the woman's logic; knowing that she was exactly right and that she'd be the one person, besides Justin, who would take advantage of low gravity worlds.

With the shields disabled, Hock was more than livid with them, screaming obscenities at them as he ordered the mercs to kill them once and for all, while Jay readied another torque bow shot, this time aiming at the braces for the thrusters.

Within a second of fully charging the shot, the arrow goes soaring through the air, its explosive tipped payload piercing the composite materials as if they weren't there and embedding itself as deep as it could, the delayed time fuse only taking a single second to activate as Hock could only stare at it in confusion, watching as it exploded violently and completely tearing the wing off.

With the gunship crash landing on the loading pad, Kasumi and Jay decided that it was time to finish this fight once and for all, with Jay tearing the hatch off the burning wreckage of the mantis, seeing that Hock was still very much alive and very angry at the two of them.

"This isn't over you two! Once I get out of here, I'm going to use all of the resources available to me to hunt the two of you down and torture you both for as long as I can! I'll kill you both!" He screamed, trying to untangle himself from the harness as Jay simply crouched down to be eye level with the man.

Upon seeing that he had the box that he had given him, Jay opened it up and retrieved its contents, sheathing the knife in one of the satchels that he uses to keep spare thermal clips and ammo, and grips the shock grenade by the handle.

"Did you know that these grenades can be very touchy when it comes to activation? How touchy you may be wondering? If I were to slap someone with this, it'll activate almost immediately, sending its payload out and into the open air. Do you remember what I told you once that payload hits air right?" Jay told him, watching with sinister satisfaction as the man's eyes go wide at having understood the implications.

"Besides, your accent is just plain awful." Is all that he told the man, smacking and planting the grenade onto his chest as he and Kasumi turn their backs to him, not bothering to watch as the screams turned into forced chokes and guttural noises as the was currently frying from the amount of electricity coursing through his body.

He was dead before the electric stopped.

* * *

Devin let out a whistle at that, nodding his head at the action as Tulma asked about what had happened afterwards with Kasumi and the graybox that she was after.

"Well… I'm sorry but that is personal information that I promised not to tell anyone. I'm sure you understand, or at least I hope that you will." Jay told them, receiving a nod from both people as they decided to not push the subject as the three of them stood up to stretch from having to sit down for an extended period of time.

"Now, if you'll go excuse me, Justin and I are going to be very busy with deleting certain information that may prove to be harmful to the Alliance at large. And one more thing Devin," Jay called out, catching the attention of the man in question as he waited patiently for what he had to say, "it's good to see that you've recovered nicely; it would've been devastating to everyone's morale if we lost you."

With that that, Jay left the hangar bay and took the elevator up, leaving both Devin and Tulma alone as they processed the information that was shared with them inside their heads.

If only there was a way that they could come clean to Shepard without having to worry about Cerberus involvement.

* * *

**And that's all for this chapter. Writing it was a hassle, and with all that's happened to it, I'm not 100% satisfied with it, in my honest opinion. Besides, I'm grateful to actually get this posted at the very least, maybe as an apology to you all for having to wait so long for an upfate yet again.**

**As for the other story, next chapter should be out tomorrow or Saturday. I promise that much.**

**I hope that you all have a great week and that you all stay healthy, safe and clean and that if you have any worries about the virus that is currently running amok, all you need to do is make sure that you're staying clean at all times, wash your hands regularly, monitor yourself for any changes in behavior and in your body.**

**Stay safe out there everyone and I'll see you all next chapter!**


	27. You Have to Forgive Yourself

**My god, it really has been awhile hasn't it? COVID has not been well to us at all for the last few months, and I desperately wanted this chapter done before the story's one year anniversary. There's not much to say other than I'm sorry for not letting anyone know anything about what had happened and that I truly wanted to let you all know something sooner than now. It's been quite difficult lately, but I'm starting a new job here in the next few days, so that that'll definitely help our situation. Other than that, I'm sorry for not you all in on what was happening but know that I'm back.**

**This chapter is small compared to the others in this story, but with who it is about and the subject matter, I decided that it'd be best to start off writing a small chapter to get back into the flow.**

**Review Time:**

**Blaze: Well, considering Kasumi was practically in love with everything in the vault, shooting the vase would've definitely crushed her soul, so I guess I just pictured that Jay didn't shoot it out of respect of what Kasumi likes. And for your other question, yes I suppose that would definitely be a possibility, considering that omni-tools are extremely prevalent in the civilian populace, the man would have a way to get a steady supply of them; I just didn't think about that until you mentioned it.**

**Captain: Gotta respect the classics, and with EDI's knowledge, she'd very much be able to understand what someone is saying via lip reading. As for the reference, I actually had no idea that was thing. Coincidence?**

**Guest: As I stated in the chapter, I had rewritten the entire thing from the ground up several times and wasn't satisfied with how it turned out in the end, but as an author, you'll eventually hit these bumps in the road. With Kasumi heading back to steal a few of the valuables from the vault, you'd be dead on about the police coming in and taking everything, but with her history that wouldn't really stop her from trying regardless. And we'll be at Omega soon, don't worry. About the shopkeeper gag, it was in Jay's backstory given to me by Blaze, as the man needed a source of income and a home on Omega for his time there, similar to Devin when he joined Garrus' vigilante gang all the way back in chapter two. I'm still unhappy at how the chapter came to be, but with how much of a nightmare it was to actually write, it'll probably take me another month of writing to actually get it sorted through. I hope you understand.**

**Without further ado, here's chapter twenty-seven. Enjoy.**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Seven: You Have to Forgive Yourself**

"What's on our agenda for today, EDI?" Shepard asked the AI, looking down at the galaxy map for where they should head next, wondering where they should go today.

"Commander, we still need to obtain the reaper IFF from the derelict vessel, as it is imperative to our mission. However, it is entirely up to you to choose our next destination." She told him, causing the man to hold his chin in thought, with him mentally choosing where they should head next.

"I'm going to need some food in my stomach before choosing something this early in the morning…" He mumbled quietly, heading to the elevator to get breakfast that Gardener had made.

The man wasn't one to make decisions on an empty stomach, after all.

"Hey Tyler, how's it going?"

"Finishing up my plate here, Commander; afterwards, I was planning on going down to the hangar bay, maybe lift some weights with Devin and whoever else is down there. After… I don't know really." He answered, gathering his empty plate and glass to take to Gardener.

"You okay Tyler? You seem down for some reason; tell me what's wrong, you know I'll help you with whatever you need."

Tyler took a moment to think about it before sitting back down across from the man as his head hangs low.

"Tomorrow… tomorrow will be the fifteenth anniversary of the Mindoir attack. They're having a memorial service for those who survived and those who didn't. I was wanting to attend it, but we've got a lot going on here and it is infinitely more important than-"

Shepard interrupted the man with a shake of his head, gaining his attention as he went silent so that Shepard could speak.

"I'm not going to deny you a ride to the memorial service; I'd never do such a thing like that, Tyler. Tell you what: how long will you need for attending the service?"

"I don't know, maybe an hour or two."

"I'll give you three hours, if that's too little, then make it four."

Tyler could only smile at the response, thanking the man with as much sincerity as he could muster.

Standing up with his dishes in his hand, Tyler drops them off to Gardener and makes his way down to the hangar bay as he said he would, wanting to get his morning workout session done and with Devin finally able to roam around the ship without the hindrance of a wheelchair.

All in all, he was happy that Shepard was letting him go to the memorial but he wasn't really surprised that he is allowing it either: Shepard is a good man, after all.

* * *

"Fucking hell, this feels so good." Devin groans out, stretching his arms and legs as he prepares for his upcoming workout session.

"I'd say so, considering that you spent the last few days in a wheelchair and not being able to get up and stretch. Besides, I even got some music for us to listen to while we do this." Justin tells him, linking his omni-tool with the radio he brought down before choosing his desired song.

The song was in a completely foreign language to Devin, with the man turning around to look at the radio with a small amount of confusion as Justin started laughing at his expression.

His laughter is interrupted, however, by Tela singing the song from her seated position.

"You _know_ this song?!" He asked her, his grin wide across his face as he looks at the asari Spectre, her legs crossed over each other as she bobs her head to song.

"Of course I know this song; _DotA_ is one of my top five favorites that humans have overall. Took me over a month to learn Swedish, all because I heard this very song while at a nightclub a few years back. You humans have some diverse ass music, that's for sure." She told him, with Justin laughing as he gets back to his workout area, with him telling her that she's his second favorite Spectre now.

(**DoTa by BassHunter, if you're curious**)

"Justin, you only _know_ two Spectres." Devin remarked, sitting down as he starts lifting dumbbells, looking at the young man with a single eyebrow raised.

"That makes it even better then."

Devin only snorted at that, shaking his head as he pays attention to what he's doing.

A few minutes pass by as the song draws to its conclusion, with the elevator doors opening and revealing Tyler as he makes his way to the nearest weight rack.

"Hey man, you getting your daily workouts done?"

"Yeah," Tyler answered, grabbing a couple of dumbbells off the rack before making his way to a bench to sit in, "I'm only going to be down here for the next thirty minutes or so; today is a slow day for me as I'm headed back to Mindoir tomorrow morning whenever Joker arrives in system. Besides that, you look happy to be out of that contraption of yours, Devin."

"You have no idea; I was planning on tossing it out of the airlock, but I guess it doesn't hurt having a spare around the ship for whenever someone needs it."

Tyler nodded his head in agreement, knowing that he had his reasonings and that he respected whatever they may be.

"So how are things going with Tulma? I noticed how you two are leaning on each other and holding hands but that's about it; taking it slow, I presume?"

Devin set the bar that he was lifting back into its slot, with Justin acting as his spotter during the process, before sitting up to answer the man's questions.

"Yeah, with everything that needs to be done and the imminent assault on the collector base, we've been content with just letting things progress slowly and simply enjoying our time together. Not only that, but after this mess is over with, I'm planning on taking her out to this one fancy restaurant on the Presidium, but that'll have to wait for later. And don't you say anything about this to her either, especially you," he points at Tela, a stern look on his face as she gave a thumbs up in return, before swinging around and pointing around the room, "and _especially_ you Kasumi!"

Justin asked the man if she was even in the hangar with them, to which Devin narrowed his eyes as he looked around, telling him that he was unsure.

That women sure knew how to disappear without anyone knowing and that kinda scared the man, if he was being honest with himself.

"Well… if you're done with your sets, would you mind spotting me?" Tyler asked him, standing up as he handed Justin the dumbbells and made his way over to Devin.

"Sure thing, come on over and I'll get you set up. But first, let me take some weight off the bar."

"How much is on it?"

"Like four-fifty for the weights alone and another fifty for the bar."

"Fucking hell, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised hearing the weight, considering that you can stop a krogan mid-charge and pick people up by their face."

That got a good laugh from the man, with him shaking his head as he set the weights aside and put the clamps back into place to lock the other weights.

"What's the weight now?"

"Two hundred plus the fifty from the bar; that good for you?"

"Perfect."

With that said, Tyler got down to the bench and began his set with Devin spotting for him.

Even with everything going on, he felt at home with two of his closest friends lifting weights with him, not caring that he was Cerberus or that he technically reported to the Illusive Man; they seen him as the person he is, not what he belonged to.

He wouldn't trade it for the world.

* * *

"A lot of traffic going on down here." Shepard commented, looking down at the landing port that they were guided to, seeing hundreds of vehicles either parking, parked, or were dropping guests off.

"Makes sense, it is the biggest loss of life on a human colony since the First Contact War, after all. I can't believe that after all these years, they still left the city center barren."

"Well," Shepard started, adjusting his suit as he stood up and looked out the window where Tyler was staring at, "from what EDI told me, that was where town hall was before the batarians invaded and that the city left it bare after the debris was cleaned up to be a reminder of what happened and as a memorial site. Probably why the service is being held there, after all."

Tyler could only nod at the explanation, standing up and stretching before adjusting his suit as well, turning to look at Shepard as the shuttle came to a stop.

"Let's get this over with… a lot of bad memories are tied here." With that said, the doors opened and two men stepped off the shuttle, walking along an illuminated pathway that was set up for guests to follow so that they can get to the service.

"A lot of cameras here too; reckon anyone will notice-"

Shepard is interrupted from his conversation when a camera flash temporarily blinds him, causing the man to rapidly blink his eyes as a nearby reporter gathers her colleague's attention.

"Commander Shepard! It's surprising to see you here at the service! Hi, my name is Maddison Kelsey, I'm with the Alliance News Network and I have to say that it is an honor to meet you in person. May I ask about your reasoning for being here, if you have the time?" She rattled off, catching the man off guard for a moment before he recollected himself, looking back at Tyler and raising an eyebrow in a silent question.

Tyler merely shrugged his shoulders and motioned for him to go ahead, knowing that they had plenty of time before the service officially starts.

"I could say that I'm here for Spectre or even Alliance reasons, but those would be false: I'm here because a friend of mine wished to be present at this ceremony and asked if I would like to come with him." He told her, watching as she nodded her head and motioned for him to continue.

"My friend here," he starts, motioning towards Tyler as he stood silently and patiently behind the man, "is a survivor or the Mindoir raids that destroyed this colony, all those years ago. Any more questions, Miss Kelsey?"

"None that I can think of at the moment, Commander; thank you for answering the ones I did ask and God bless their souls, and bless yours as well." She told Tyler, the man simply nodding his head in appreciation as they walked off, following the procession.

"I never thought to ask EDI this, but how many survivors were there after the Alliance rescued you all?"

Tyler stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes glossing over as he stared at the horizon as the sun was high in the sky.

"Not enough."

Shepard didn't bother asking for any clarification on the subject, knowing that it'd be inappropriate to do so and let the man stay in place, still staring over at the horizon.

Then, he started walking down the empty street, with Shepard following along in silence.

Maybe, after all these years and the amount of reconstruction that had occurred over the years, the man still knew his way around the city.

"That's Bohr School, named after the physicist Niels Bohr; it was a rather large school back then and was where both junior high and high school was held. I know that it seems small in the front, but it extends out back to accommodate the rather large number of students that went there." He told him, walking down the sidewalk next the school entrance, his right arm motioning towards it.

"I take it you went to school here?"

"Yep, I was in the seventh grade. God, it still looks as stupid as it did back then. Anyway, there should be a stone outcropping somewhere on the other far side of the school here that we named Big Boulder."

When asked about the name, Tyler only shrugged in response, telling him that it was something that the kids around the city started calling it and that it just stuck with everyone, even the school faculty members.

And when reaching the far side of the building, lo and behold there stood Big Boulder, a walkway built around the rock with a small gate around it, a small plaque standing at the base of it.

Upon further inspection from Tyler and Shepard, they found out that the school had made the rock their official mascot after the raids had ended, informing them that while the school had been severely damaged in the attack, the stone stood strong and hadn't suffered any signs of damage throughout the ordeal.

That got a chuckle out of Tyler as he patted the rock before turning away, walking down the street away from the building.

* * *

"This was my old neighborhood…"

Shepard raised an eyebrow, looking down the street and seeing nothing out of the ordinary.

"How do you know?"

"Ravenwood was the name, that and it's still called Ravenwood, judging from the sign. Come on, I'll show you where I lived with my family." Tyler tells the man, beginning to make his way down the road only to be stopped by Shepard grabbing his arm.

"Are you sure you want to do this? The services started an hour ago and you did want to attend them, didn't you?"

With a sigh escaping his lips, Tyler nodded his head, agreeing with the man that they'd better get back to the reception before it ended in the next hour.

With one last look down the road, Tyler steps in line with Shepard and walks alongside with the man, staying silent as they made their way back to the memorial service so that Tyler can finish what he came here to do.

It was the least he could do for his brother.

* * *

"With the main service coming to its conclusion, I ask those present to once again join me in a moment of silence for those who were lost in the assault." The lead organizer requests, taking the microphone away from the stand and setting it aside as he and everyone present bows their head in silence; showing respect to the dead as they let them have this moment again.

"It has come to my attention," the organizer began, grabbing the microphone from its position and bringing it back to him, "that we have a very special guest with us today; Systems Alliance Commander and Council Spectre, Commander Shepard. He is with a guest as well, one of the few remaining survivors of the attacks. I please ask that if either of them would like to speak and tell us anything that they would like to share, for the two of them to come up here and take the stage."

Tyler could only sigh at having the attention brought to them, standing up with Shepard as the two of them made their way out of the VIP area and up to the stage where all the attention, cameras, and lights were focused.

Shepard had declined the offer of speaking on the subject, stating that he wasn't here whenever the attacks happened and that the honor belonged to Tyler instead.

Grabbing a cup of water and downing it in one go, Tyler swallowed the lump in his chest and began his small, improvised speech that he made up on the spot.

"I lived here on Mindoir so many years ago, back before you all got these new factories, stores, and other industrial complexes. It was a simple time back then, being a young kid with a bright future ahead of you and a loving family that was supporting of every choice you made. It was… paradise, for a young pre-teen. When the slavers came and attacked, my parents were killed within hours of the initial assault; leaving me to fend for my brother and I. We held out for several days, avoiding any slaver patrols, masking our scents with mud, soot, and whatever else we could find that we could rub into out skin so that the varren wouldn't find us. And it worked. For eight days, we were in the clear, we had a small hideout in one of the storm drains, a small stash of food and water to keep ourselves nourished, and even an alcove further back in that we could sleep on. The ninth day… it was a nightmare for my brother and I. We had been caught, and being just two kids against four batarians, we couldn't do anything. When they planted that chip into his head… that was when I finally focused my biotics for the first time and used them to kill all of them. After the slavers were dead or dying, I held my brother and I gave him mercy. When the Alliance came, I was bleeding out from a few bullet holes in my chest, I'd given up and was ready to die; but a man and his team had found me where I lied and patched me up and saved my life. I don't remember the name of the man who stayed with me, I've been told that it was a lieutenant, someone named Anderson, but he told me everything that had happened and that the Alliance had chased off the slavers, but not before they decimated the colony. After all these years, I finally understand what the man was trying to tell me: _say not in grief and vain that they are no more, but live in thankfulness of who they were_. And now, I ask the same of you all. Remember the fallen and continue living for them."

When he had reached the conclusion of his speech, the crowd began applauding him, no doubt the strong words and message that he told them being readily accepted by the masses going to be remembered for generations to come, but that it would in time be used for the future of the galaxy overall.

The very near future.

"Come on Tyler, let's get back to the Normandy." Shepard told him, slinging his arm over the man's shoulder as they passed a wall that had all the name's of the victims who perished or were never found, even showing the names of the Alliance soldiers who were killed as well.

Tyler stopped for a moment to search through the names listed, taking only a minute to find the names of his family, noticing that only his name was missing from the memorial and closed his eyes as he laid his hand upon it, before simply walking away from the site.

He didn't look back at it, knowing that he didn't have to and that he finally got the closure he needed.

"Thanks for being here Shepard, it… it really does mean a lot to me. I want you to know that I see you and everyone else on the Normandy as my family now. And I don't plan on losing this one."

Shepard could only laugh and tell him that he's glad to hear that as they made their way back to their shuttle, seeing Scruffy reclined back in the seat as he reads his adult fun time magazine whilst eating from a bag of chips.

"We're back Scruffy; take us to the Normandy." Shepard told the janitor/pilot, climbing into the back of the shuttle with Tyler in tow.

"Yep." Is all that the man says, flipping to another page and setting a bookmark so that he could come back to where he left off.

* * *

**Like I said, small chapter that I wrote to get me back into the swing of things. Should I still continue writing more about the loyalty missions? Considering that Grunt, Mordin, Tulma, Jack, and a couple of others needs to written before we get too far in the story, or should I go with the next main quest mission then do some more loyalty mission?**

**Anyway, I hope you all are staying safe and that I'm back to writing once more. Have a great day!**


	28. A Little Girl's Past

**Hello again everyone, back at it with another new chapter for the story and this time it's Jack's turn to be won over by Shepard. Next two or three chapters that will come out will be a couple more loyalty missions before Shepard and co secures the reaper IFF tag. Other than that, not much else to say and without further ado, onto reviews.**

**Review Time:**

**Mandrake: I thought so as well, but it's always nice to have a second opinion on things just to help push you one way or another. And as for the whole trap thing, it always bugged me about why they never made sure to head to a safer area in space, namely a human controlled or even council controlled area before they tested the IFF tag. I just blame lazy 2010 writing, in all honesty; but hey, on the bright side, we get to play as another person besides Shepard for once. And yes, many things in many series, movies, games, and even books can be dumbed down to someone being stupid lol.**

**Blaze: Devin's loyalty mission happened when he had the imulsion parasite removed and when he and Tulma finally confided their feelings with one another, as for Jay's we already discussed this in a pm.**

**That's all for the reviews and I hope you all enjoy the chapter and are staying safe during this shutdown. Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Eight: A Little Girl's Past**

She found it, she can't believe that she _actually_ found the source of all of her childhood pain and trauma; the nightmarish hellhole that caused her to become who she was today.

Jack set the datapad back down on the crate beside her cot, her left hand holding her head up as her right simply lied across her knee; her mind going through several thoughts a second as she processed the information bit by bit.

Shepard kept his end of the deal, which didn't surprise her all that much considering his helpful demeanor and upbeat attitude, but what really surprise her was that that she felt _obligated_ to help him as well.

To give him everything that she had so that they could take the fight to the collectors and save the galaxy.

Her. Saving the galaxy… she only just realized the irony of that thought as she took a look back at everything she's ever done, all the crimes that she's committed in her life after escaping from the Cerberus facility, and shook her head at the absurdity of it all.

She couldn't believe that _she_ was… actually _wanting_ to help everyone get through this whole ordeal alive.

Maybe Shepard was finally getting through her thick skull.

Not that she'd ever admit it.

Jack took one look back at the datapad and smirked to herself, a plan formulating in her mind about what she was going to do once she went back to her childhood home.

"Can't wait to see the fucking crater." She mumbled to herself, smirking at the thought of what was going to happen soon.

She can't wait to get at as soon as possible, all she needs is a very big bomb.

* * *

"You want to do what?" Shepard asked the woman, staring intently at her with a raised eyebrow as she leaned back onto her cot, her facial expression never changing as she repeated herself once more.

"I want you to take me to Pragia where Cerberus held me all those years ago, so I can plant a big fucking bomb right in the room they kept me in and watch it blow up from up from orbit. Afterwards, I'll uphold my end of the deal that we made." She told him, getting up and stretching her back as she waited patiently for what the man had to say.

"I mean, I'm not against the idea of doing that to the place that basically tortured you and countless other children for the sake of science, but why a nuke?"

Jack snorted at the question, crossing her arms as she looked at the man with a deadpan expression.

"So I can literally and metaphorically _blow it the fuck out of my life_. There, good enough for you?"

All Shepard could do was shrug at the remark, telling her that he doesn't mind it one bit that she made that request at all.

"So when do you want to do this and who else you want on this mission with you?" He asks her, watching as her thoughts went in and out of her mind at choosing who should go with them, should there be a problem that arises.

Knowing Shepard and his luck, they were definitely going to run into trouble.

"Right now, preferably, but I know that it'll take us a couple of days to get to Pragia. As for who can come with us… Tali."

"Tali?"

"What? She knows her way around a terminal or an interface, but so does Justin, that weirdo. Besides, we might run into a locked door that Cerberus activated to keep us from going further into the facility, and if you think for one second that I'm going to let a locked door keep me from getting this done, then you're sorely mistaken. Besides, quarians have never done me wrong before, so I have no reason to hate them as much as I hate everyone else." She told him, handing him the datapad so that Shepard could give the coordinates to Joker for him to take the Normandy to where she needed to go.

"What about me?"

"I'd sell your soul to the devil for a single corn chip."

Shepard only smiled at her response, took the datapad from her hand and turned around, heading for the stairs that led to the elevator, but not before getting the last word in on her.

"I see that I have some value in your eyes after all! I'm so proud of you!"

The gruff of annoyance and snide remark that he received was music to his ears.

"God I love doing what I do."

* * *

"Can't believe it's still there," Jack thought aloud, looking at the degraded facility and the surrounding area as rain fell from the sky above, the occasional lightning bolt arcing through the sky being visible to the three of them, "I thought that the plants would've definitely overran this shit hole long ago. Whatever, at least I can still blow this place sky high."

"Keelah… Cerberus really kept kids here?" Tali asked, looking back from the site to Jack who only shrugged in response.

"Yep, at any given point there were around sixty, maybe seventy kids who were studied and experimented on; I got the worst of it all. Anyway, if memory serves me right, I still know the layout of this place and where my old room was." She explained, standing up as the shuttle landed and Shepard opened the door, the three of them stepping off and began looking around the landing site.

"When you said that the plants here would overrun the place, I thought that was a little bit of an exaggeration, but I guess it wasn't after all."

Coming upon a stairwell, the group sees that it was left in major disarray after years of being exposed to the elements, most of the handrails either missing or rusted beyond repair, the stairs were covered by thick ropes of vines that were twisting amongst each other, forming a barrier across the entrance of the facility.

With her omni-blade active and ready, Jack began cutting through the thick vines, cursing under her breath as the rain kept getting in her eyes and blurring her vision.

"I forgot how much I hate this fucking place; it was a mistake to come here Shepard." She told him, turning around to look at the man as he reached out and put a hand on her shoulder.

"You'll be alright Jack, we're here for you; I understand that this is difficult for you right now, but you're the one who wanted to come here and get this done, and Tali and I are going to be right beside you the entire time. Just take a minute to get your bearings and we can move on, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah you're right, it's just… I never thought I could actually come back here myself. Okay, let's get a move on; this place isn't going to blow itself up." She told him, nodding her thanks to him as Tali finished cutting the last of the vines from the door, allowing the group to enter the facility.

Upon entering the room, Shepard had asked Jack about what had happened here, to which she explained that she'd never seen the room before, but judging from the containers that were present, she guess that they most likely brought other kids here within them for processing, most of which were starving or messed up in some other way, but alive.

Usually.

Tali was appalled by the thought, voicing her opinions as to why would a human centric group be experimenting on human children.

All Jack could do was shrug at her question, telling her that she doesn't know.

"It looks as if there's a terminal here that is still active, maybe whatever is on it could point us in the right direction as to what happened here." Shepard told them, pointing at the device in question as the three of them made their way down the flight of stairs, with Tali crouching beside it and opening a rear panel before activating her omni-tool and using it to help see if she could get it working.

After several minutes of muttering under breath, she stood up and dusted her hands off, motioning for Shepard to activate it as she stepped back from it.

"I did all I could to get it in truly working order, but there's just too much damage here and not enough tools to fix it to see what's on it." She explained, watching as Shepard nodded at the information as she activated the terminal.

Once it powered up, a heavily distorted image appeared before them, the sounds of static filling in the background as two men were speaking with one another.

"_The Illusive Man is requesting progress updates and operation logs again; I think he's starting to get suspicious._"

"_When we get results, he won't care what we did here, but if he finds out before we do get any…_"

"_He won't find out, I assure you._"

That was when the message began repeating once more, the same two people having the same exact conversation replaying just as Shepard switched the terminal off.

"It sounds as if they were beginning to go rogue or something." He commented, looking back at Jack as she sneered at the terminal.

"That's a load of bullshit, besides he didn't say what they were hiding from the Illusive Man."

"Regardless of what happened, we still have to get through this facility and plant that bomb. Let's go." He told her, Jack sighing as she followed behind the man as Tali kept pace beside her.

Coming back here was definitely giving her more questions than it was answering, that's all that she knew for sure.

* * *

"It looks as if this place was set up like an arena of some sort."

"You'd be right on that Tali; every once in a while, the guards would stage a fight between me and the other kids who were here. I loved it, as it was the only time that I was ever allowed out of my cell."

"Did other children die in these fights?"

"I was a kid filled with drugs; I got shocked when I hesitated. Narcotics flooded my veins when I attacked."

Shepard got pissed immediately, asking her if they actually rewarded her for attacking and what was wrong with those who allowed it to happen.

"Shepard, I can see why you'd be upset at that, but this was my _life_ and they knew how to set it up for me. I still get warm feelings during a fight, from time to time, and as for what was wrong with them, I don't know, it doesn't matter now; most of them are dead anyway." She explained, looking down at the metal floor where faint, years old scratches could be seen, her mind drifting back to the memories of what happened in the arena, before she was brought back when Shepard called out her name.

"What?"

"I asked you how often these fights would take place, but I'm guessing that you don't know the answer to that." He said, standing still as he waited for the woman's response.

"When you're locked in a cell for most of your life, filled with drugs and other stuff, time doesn't really have a meaning to you. I'd wager that it happened maybe once a month, twice if things were getting slow. As for what they were studying, I don't have a fucking clue; probably a way for them to get their kicks. Anyways, let's move on, I don't want to be in this room any longer." She told them, pushing past the man as he looked at Tali and shook his head solemnly, knowing that she isn't in a good place at the moment.

Both literally and metaphorically.

* * *

"_This is Security Officer Zimkl, Teltin Facility! The subjects are tearing this place apart! Subject Zero is going to get loose; I need permission to terminate, I say again, I need permission to terminate!_" The man in the recording requested urgently, the sounds of gunfire and biotic attacks echoing in the background as the man awaited a response.

"_All subjects besides Subject Zero are expendable; keep Jack alive at all costs!_" The voice from the intercom ordered him, the man in the recording nodding his head as he gave his affirmative back before Jack abruptly destroyed the terminal with her biotics, seething with anger as Shepard stepped up to her.

"THAT is complete BULLSHIT! That isn't what happened at all; I broke out of my cell when my guards disappeared. I started that riot!" She exclaimed, looking back at Shepard, seemingly for any answer that he may give to her.

"There was a lot going on from the sounds of things in that recording, Jack; as you said, there were rooms here that you've never seen before, meaning that a multitude of things could've happened that you didn't see." He explained, watching her step right up to his face, a look of confusion, anger, and denial crossing over her features.

"The other kids attacked me, the guards attacked me, hell even the security systems attacked me! That doesn't leave a whole lot of room for interpretation, Shepard."

"I'm telling you what I've gathered from the last few recordings and from what you yourself has told me Jack. I want to help you, that's why I agreed to this mission of yours, but you're going to have to work with me here if you want this mission of yours to succeed."

Hearing the man say that, Jack finally took a couple of steps back from him with her eyes closed, a sigh leaving her body as she simply nodded her head.

"I know Shepard, and I do appreciate you two doing this for me, but I know what I saw and what was happening from my point of view." She relented, seeing Shepard and Tali nod their heads in understanding as they entered the next room.

"Who the fuck shot that varren? This place is supposed to be empty god dammit and that is a fresh kill." Jack pointed out, to which Shepard immediately agreed with her assessment that someone else was in the facility with them.

"Everyone, keep your weapons ready at all times from here on out; I don't like the look things here and if there is someone else here, they may be hostile." He warned them, pulling his rifle off his back as Tali and Jack did the same with their weapons.

Upon entering the next room, the three of them sees a small group consisting of three vorcha and two krogan, the krogan conversing amongst themselves as the vorcha were looking around to see what caught their interest. And, as usual, all of them were armed with weapons ranging from a flamethrower to heavy-duty shotguns.

This only caused Jack to let out a snarl as she quickly took aim at the nearest vorcha and began firing straight into its unshielded head, killing it almost immediately as Shepard cursed under his breath, ducking down behind a wall to avoid the gunfire that was sent their way.

"And what did that accomplish?" He asked the irate woman, seeing her glowing blue with biotic energy as she threw out another attack before getting back into cover.

"Relieved a little bit of pent up anger and besides, I don't like seeing that there are others here that will get in our way of us planting this bomb and blowing this place straight to hell!" She screamed, with Tali sending out her combat drone as a distraction as she modded her shotgun to fire incendiary rounds while Shepard only shook his head, telling her that nothing is going to stop them from getting their mission done.

Peaking around the corner, Shepard sees that the two krogan are separating from each other, seemingly trying to flank them from both sides at once, with one headed to the catwalk that stretched across the room and the other staying on the ground floor, while the vorcha in the middle is laying down whatever little suppressive fire that it could.

"Tali, you take care of the vorcha in the middle while Jack and I take on both krogans at the same time." He tells her, receiving a nod from Jack as Tali gave her affirmative as she loaded a fresh thermal clip into her shotgun.

"Will do, Shepard; try not to get tossed around like you were at Noveria." She teased, receiving a frown from the man in return as he shook his head at the remark.

"That was one time."

"And yet you still complained about having back pains."

"Yeah, yeah; just do what I told you to do."

"Aye, aye Commander."

With two vorcha down and Tali taking care of the last one, Shepard fired a continual burst from his rifle at the krogan that was on their level, taking his shields out as the krogan got behind a pillar for cover, waiting for his shields to recharge as Jack kept throwing out biotic attacks at the one on the catwalk, keeping him pinned down.

The last vorcha fell as Tali's drone launched an incinerate at it, catching the fuel tank of the flamethrower ablaze, causing the vorcha to give off one last scream of various emotions before it exploded, killing it immediately as the explosion sent deadly shrapnel deep into its head and body, shredding it apart in mere milliseconds.

"Vorcha down, Shepard." Tali called out, receiving a thumbs up from the man as he threw a frag grenade over their cover and near where the krogan is hiding, shredding the container that it was using and sending him into a blood rage.

Before he could make it past three steps, Shepard had fired his widow sniper rifle straight through the front plate of the krogan's head, killing him immediately and sending its corpse tumbling to the ground, its orange fluorescent-like blood slowly pooling around its body.

The last krogan, upon seeing this, had dropped off the side of the catwalk and landed on the floor, his gun firing at the group as he slowly made his way to them, but before anything could happen, Jack had leapt over their cover and charged him, biotic energy coalescing over her body as she reared her hand back and threw a warp at the charging giant.

Following this, she then used her other hand to launch a throw at him, the two biotic energies reacting negatively with each other as their polarities weren't matched, causing a biotic explosion to occur and throw the krogan off his feet, his shield emitter being crushed as he landed on his back against a nearby pillar.

Before he could do anything to retaliate or even get back on his feet, Jack simply aimed her shotgun right between his eyes and fired, the rounds tearing straight through the head plate, putting the krogan down once and for all.

After doing this, Jack huffs in annoyance and kicks the body, turning around and looking at both Shepard and Tali as they came up to her.

"Thanks for the ammo type there, Tali; definitely helped putting the fucker down."

"I figured you of all people would've had shredder rounds installed onto your omni-tool, but you are welcome nonetheless." She told her, looking around the room as they finally had time to see what exactly was in it.

"Looks like some sort of morgue, if I had to wager a guess; could be that they were experimenting with them on some other project. Even then, I'm not sure." Shepard commented, collapsing his rifle and putting it on his back, looking at Jack as if to ask her for an explanation.

"I don't know why they needed this place; could be to burn the bodies of those who died, maybe even do an autopsy. Regardless of why it's here, it's still bullshit and I made it out alive."

Seeing as how no one learned anything new about why the room was there, the three of them left the room and ventured deeper into the facility, with Jack seemingly more on edge the deeper they go, which isn't that much of a surprise to Shepard, considering all that she went through whilst being locked up and studied here for all of her childhood life.

* * *

"It's so strange being back here, after all these years, you know? Like, I feel like I'm even more pissed off than usual and that I'm a dangerous bitch… but then, I'm a little girl again. Fucking hell… this shit is confusing and even more complicated when I actually think about it… let's just get to my room and plant this damn bomb." Jack told them, her eyes wandering around the various walls and walkways that they've passed, the lightning and rain catching her eyes as they passed through a door at the far end of the hallway.

Upon entering through the door that was at the end of the hallway, after killing a few vorcha who tried to stop them, did Jack actually drop her gun, hey eyes going over every detail of the new room that they had found themselves in as she walked silently along the metal walkway, headed for the mirror that was built into the wall as both Shepard and Tali shared glances at each other, with Shepard picking up Jack's shotgun and Tali following along silently as Jack traced her fingers along the glass.

"I… I can't believe it. This? This is a two-way mirror? My cell is on the other side, I could see all the other kids out here. I screamed at them for hours, banging against the glass hoping that someone would notice me, but they always ignored me." She tells them, her voice low as she stood there and stared at the glass wall in front of her, hoping that she could peer through the mirror and see if it was possible to see into her room, but no avail.

It wasn't the other kid's fault for ignoring her, after all.

Shepard could only pat her shoulder, drawing her attention as he held up her weapon, giving it to her as her hands closed around the hand guards and pistol grip, only nodding her thanks to him as she led them out of the room, but not before taking one last look at the window just before the doors closed on them.

Now she was ready to get the hell out of the facility and to kill whoever was in charge of the Blood Pack that was here with them.

* * *

The revelation that Jack had went through with the last terminal that they found had completely shattered all preconceptions about what had happened to her and the other children who were being studied. After all the years that she's had to live with what Cerberus has done to her, all the countless experiments and cruelties that they had forced her into, the pain from their tests, the drugs they forced into her system, and the days where she wished she would die came out and pushed her over the edge.

The three krogan and their vorcha underlings were going to be the target of all her pent-up emotions, and they'd better fill that role well.

"I'LL KILL YOU ALL!" She screams, lifting a vorcha into the air with her biotics and tossed him into the far wall, crushing the organs as they followed basic physics and were crushed within the chest cavity from the sudden stop.

"Push them now! We have both numbers and firepower on our side!" Kureck, the lead merc, ordered, shouldering his rifle as the other two krogan charged forward, their shotguns and rifles firing at the trio as they went back into cover.

"Shepard, the only room that's left is my old cell; Aresh has to be in there and once we're finished fucking these bastards the fuck up, we go in there and fuck him up even more, plant the bomb on his corpse, and blow this place to hell." She tells him, her biotics flaring as she gritted her teeth as Shepard nodded his head at her, looking over at Tali and motioning for her omni-tool.

"Tali, I need you to distract the vorcha while we deal with the krogan, just like last time. Make sure your shields are at a hundred percent; don't want to explain to Chakwas about why her favorite quarian's suit is ruptured and that she's running a fever along with it."

"I can take care of myself Shepard, I'm not a young girl on her pilgrimage, you know. Go get them, Chatika!" She shouts, cheering her combat drone on as it raced through the fallen debris towards its vorcha targets.

(**I forgot if the drone's name was Chatika or Chakita, but I know it's definitely one or the other so please correct me if I'm wrong here**)

With Tali and her drone dealing with the last two vorcha, Shepard and Jack leapt over their cover, one firing his rifle into the nearest krogan and the other throwing as many biotic attacks as she could at the other one, each attack just as dangerous as the last.

With the krogan just a few feet in front of him, Shepard leapt to the side and rolled back to his feet, silently thanking the lessons that Devin gave him a few weeks earlier about the proper form needed to pull off this maneuver, and swapped to his shotgun, letting the rifle cooldown in favor of something that hits harder at closer ranges, and fires it into the knees, watching as the krogan buckled under his own weight, dropping his gun entirely to keep himself from falling over.

Before Shepard could deliver the killing blow, Kureck began firing at Shepard, hitting the man's shield a few times as the man dived for cover, noticing that from how little he was hit, his shields were half way depleted.

Upon closer inspection, Shepard could only sigh as he saw the weapon within the krogan's grasp.

"Of course it's a damn revenant, because why not?" He cursed to himself, thinking about how many people he's fought who had one in their arsenal and how they're supposed to be quite expensive considering the materials put into them.

But it seems as if they weren't that hard to come by.

With this information in mind, he switches over to his widow and takes aim at the krogan who finally got back to his feet and fires a single round through his head, watching as the body simply dropped to the ground before ducking back into cover to avoid yet another burst from the krogan's machine gun.

Shepard called out to both Tali and Jack, asking how they're holding up on their end, only receiving curses and slurs from Jack as she knocked the krogan that she's dealing with off his feet while Tali calmly answers the man ,telling him that the last vorcha was dead and that she can help whoever needs it.

"Give Jack a hand, will you? That way we can deal with the big man together."

"Of course, Shepard; try not to get shot while we're at it."

Shepard only rolled his eyes in response, shaking his head as he peaks around the pillar that he's using as cover, seeing that Kurek is still firing at him but looking back and forth between him and the other krogan, leaving gaps in his attention that he would sure capitalize on.

"Must I do everything myself? You were all weak, regardless and after I'm done killing you three, I'm killing Aresh!" Kureck screamed, seeing as the last krogan fell dead with several chunks missing from his corpse as Shepard, Jack, and Tali advanced up the elevated platform for a close confrontation.

Kureck was surrounded on all sides, the quarian activating a function on her omni-tool that caused his gun to misfire and jam, which in turn made him throw it into the armored human, causing the man to stumble back as he fumbled with the large weapon in his hands.

The other human, however, was proving to be far more of a nuisance than the other two as she kept hitting him with biotic attacks while the quarian fired into him with her shotgun. But, as with all things, he couldn't hope to withstand their onslaught and fell over on the ground, blood flowing freely from the numerous bullet wounds that he had been riddled with, and did nothing as the shirtless human raised her fist high into the air, more biotic energy flaring from it, before bringing it down on his head, killing him immediately.

"Fucking hell, I think I broke a knuckle or two there." Jack groaned, holding her right hand with the left one as Shepard shrugged in response, telling her that medi-gel would only help with the pain and not actually give her any form of treatment.

"Let's get in there and meet up with this Aresh guy, plant that bomb, and get the hell out of dodge." He tells them, walking through the doors and seeing that the room was seemingly empty.

"Come on out, we know you're here." Shepard says aloud, hearing the sounds of a desk being moved, the three of them watching as a man in his early twenties standing in front of them.

"Who are you?" Jack immediately questioned the man, a pistol armed in her good hand as the man looked at her with almost no emotion.

"My name is Aresh, as you probably know by now. You're breaking into my home, but I know who _you_ are, Subject Zero. So many years have passed since we all escaped, and I thought that I was one of the few remaining survivors."

"My name's Jack, dick bag. How in the hell do you know me?"

"We all knew who you were, knew your face, Jack. The scientists inflicted horrors upon us so that their experiments wouldn't have a chance to kill you. You were the question of their research, and I'm back here looking for the answers."

"Looks like you're not the only one who was pulled back here, Jack. Question is, why is here." Shepard told her, watching her look at him confusedly as Aresh answered the question himself.

"I tried for years to forget this place; but a place like this… it doesn't forget you. It follows you around in the back of your mind, always there watching you, even when you sleep. I hired these mercs and came back a solar year ago, hoping to rebuild this place piece by piece. I'm going to find out what they knew and to unlock it the true biotic potential in humans; I'm restarting the Teltin Facility." He explained, gesturing around himself to the facility as a whole, catching Jack off guard as she stared at the man in disbelief.

"I wanted a fucking hole in the ground and you're standing here justifying all the fucked up shit they DID TO US?! You're wanting to do to kids what they did to us? Give me one good reason to not blow your FUCKING brains out!" Jack screamed, rage crossing her features as she held the pistol tight in her hands, aiming straight at the Aresh's head.

"Everything we've went through must've been worth something dammit! Why would they do all those things to us if there wasn't a good reason?!"

It finally clicked in Shepard's head about why the man was acting the way he was: a twisted form of Stockholm Syndrome.

Jack walked up to the man and sent him to his knees with a biotic push, the man staring straight at the floor as he awaited his inevitable death.

"Jack, we can still blow this place but he's stuck in the past. You need to move on from yours; that's why we're here."

"He wants to restart this place! To do all those twisted experiments to other kids as Cerberus has done to us! He needs to die, Shepard."

"Dammit Jack, he's fucking crazy and is never going to be able to restart this facility! You need to let it go; your past doesn't control you! If it did, then you'd be the one on the floor wanting to restart this place alongside him. You're better than that, I know so and I can see it plain as day when I look at you. Let it go."

Jack clenched her eyes shut, baring her teeth and the pistol and her hand began to shake, before lowering her aim, telling the man that he'd better leave or that she was going to put a bullet through his head.

"Just… give me a minute to look around, okay? This room was my whole childhood," she started, looking out the window as she touched the surface with her hand, "I thought that room right there was the entire world. I'd pound, yell, scream, and cry while hoping that someone on the other side would notice me… not that it did any good." She solemnly tells him, pulling away from the window to look at the bed.

"Sometimes I dream that I'm still here, reliving this nightmare that all of this is just a dream and that I'd woken up right back on this bed. I don't want to come back here anymore. Not as long as I'm alive. The table here was my best friend and used it for everything, even crawling under it to cry. Looking back at it now, it must've been a pathetic sight to see."

After she was done with the room, Jack walked back to the door and crouched near the wall opposite of it, looking at a smear that was still faintly visible on its surface.

"The scarring on the wall here was from the first person I've ever killed; he tried to stop me from escaping this cell. In the end, I stopped him instead. Let's go Shepard; I want to plant this bomb and not sit here wallowing all day long." She tells him, walking back to her room as Shepard and Tali readies the nuke, but before sparing the room one last look before she closed the doors for good.

* * *

"Hey Jack, I heard that you and Miranda got into it and that it was pretty nasty." Tali says, stopping by the crate at the foot of Jack's bed as the woman merely glances up at her.

"Yeah, I was getting ready to smear the walls with that fucking bitch, but Shepard came in to save the fucking day." She tells her, growling as she spoke but ultimately sighing as she dropped her head.

"It's for the best though; I understand that Shepard is merely wanting to keep us from attacking each other because she's Cerberus' fucking cheerleader, but if we stand any chance of stopping these bug bastards, then we'll need to play nice. So… what brings you down here?"

"Well I came to check up on you, seeing as how you finally left a large chunk of your life behind and that you had to deal with Miranda's remarks, but I came to give you this." She explains, holding out a book in her hands as Jack looked on with a puzzled expression.

"I found it beneath a fallen bookshelf in your room and seen that this was the only book that was still in decent condition. Just something to keep as a reminder of where you came from, you know?"

Jack could only laugh at the question, taking the book from her as she looked over the cover and even through the various pages that it contained.

"Thanks Tali, that's… actually very kind of you. I appreciate this." She told her, smiling gently at the woman as she simply nodded her head in return before leaving the area, going up the stairs and back to working on her station.

"Fucking Don Quixote… let's see if I remember where I left off." Jack said to herself, opening the book and sifting through its pages, losing track of time as she done so.

* * *

**And that's all for this chapter! I hope that you enjoyed it and that the addition of some extra dialogue and scenery made it a little more appealing than a standard copy/paste of environments.**

**Next update should be sometime later this month and as always, I hop you all have a great week and that you all stay safe during these times, especially if you're in the path of that hurricane along eastern US. I've been through hurricanes Irma, Harvey, and Maria myself a few years back and it was definitely not fun.**

**Stay safe out there everyone!**


	29. Welcome to the Family

**Been busy this past month: lots of family stuff (birthdays, gatherings, etc), two different jobs, the factory one I had before was awful and it wasn't doing my back any wonders, but the new one I have it much more relaxed and offers the same pay as well, which is a plus. Other than that, my laptop had to be sent in for repairs again and the tech guy who worked on it told me that it definitely has around six months of life left before the motherboard gives out entirely, after that, gotta buy a new one. Hopefully I'll get my stuff together before that happens, but we'll never know until that time comes. Moving on, this chapter is another one that I have looked forward to writing for a long while now: Tulma's loyalty mission.**

**What happens in it is for you all to read and not for me to spoil!**

**Review Time:**

**Blaze: Yeah, considering it's been years since those remains have been sitting there out in the open elements, withering away long before Shepard and co came by to investigate. I just chalk it up to plot building and character development.**

**Thehappy: Lots of reviews, all of which are greatly appreciated! Hope that enthusiasm is still present for this one!**

**That's all for the reviews and I hope you all enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Nine: Welcome to the Family**

Devin knew that they were well into their mission to stop the collectors from assaulting any more colonies; how far were they exactly, he didn't know, he just knew that they were getting close to taking the fight to the collectors.

A lot of his friends were coming to Shepard for him to help them with their problems, some of which has been bothering them for years and years on end, especially the centuries that Samara has spent hunting her serial killer of a daughter.

He himself is completely on board with the mission, ever since he had the imulsion parasite removed from his system he gave Shepard his word that he'd stick with them until the end of the mission.

But lately, he's noticed that Tulma has been quiet, distant even whenever there's a moment of down time for the two of them.

At first, he simply thought that she was content with being with him in silence, but the more that he studied turian behavior online, the more signs that there was something going on with her that she wasn't telling him.

Speaking with Garrus about the matter, he confirmed the man's suspicions about how she appears to be stuck in her thoughts, maybe reflecting on them as she's been doing her daily duties without realizing that she's showing that something's wrong with her.

Devin has a sinking feeling about what it could be, considering the subjects of some personal missions that a few crew members had to deal with.

Opening his omni-tool and sifting through his contacts, Devin's eyes narrow as he finds the person's contact information that he was looking for.

Thankfully he doesn't have to travel far, due to Shepard making a stop at the Citadel for a supply run and to speak with the Human Councilor about current affairs while also dropping Vasir off and letting her get back to her Spectre business.

Dialing the number, Devin waits until the recipient answers the call.

"Hey Sparatus, it's Devin Carmine… Yeah, I'm calling in that favor you promised me; it's about Tulma… Alright then, I'll see you shortly."

With the call ending, Devin makes his way to the elevator and up to the CIC, passing by Kelly and telling her that he has important business to attend to and to inform Shepard, whenever he gets back, that he'll be back within the next couple of hours and to no leave him stranded on the Citadel.

With that out of the way, Devin returns a wave back to Joker as he leaves the airlock.

He has a meeting to attend to and he better get the answers that he's looking for.

* * *

"Councilor, there's a human outside telling me that you're expecting him, saying his name is Devin and that… yes sir, sending him through now." The guard says, lowering his arm and motioning for Devin to step through and head on in to meet with the man, with Devin nodding in thanks.

Upon entering the room, he sees that Sparatus is pouring himself a glass of alcohol after shutting down his personal terminal, no doubt needing it after all he goes through on a daily basis with all the affairs that he and his people experiences.

"Ah Devin, pleasant surprise seeing that you're up and well; I heard about what happened and regardless of what others think, I was actually concerned with your well-being. Please, take a seat and tell me why you're calling in favor so soon; normally people would like to wait a bit before calling in any favor that a Councilor owes them."

Taking the seat across from the man, Devin crosses his arms over his chest, taking his helmet off and setting on his lap as he looked at the Councilor with narrowed eyes.

"How do you know that I was hurt recently?"

"Tulma explained everything to me while you were out cold. I was pretty much the only person around who could ensure that you could get the best recovery room that credits can buy, while Shepard was busy doing damage control and keeping your name from being released to the public due to information leaks; leaks that both Councilor Anderson and I stopped from spreading. With that being said, what do you need?" He asked him, taking a drink from his glass as Devin processed the newly given information.

"Thanks for the save… it's about Tulma: she's feeling distant and I have an idea why and wondered if you'd be of any assistance. She's been around a bunch of crewmembers who were dealing with familial problems, be it a sister, a father you thought dead, mourning your lost family, or even a cutthroat daughter and I'm guessing that she's been thinking about her mother recently and it'd mean everything to her if she were to meet her once again. So here's my request, Sparatus: give me the name of the planet she's on and which hospital she's staying at, because I want her to go and visit the woman to reconcile with her."

With his request out in the air, Sparatus simply nods his head in response, bringing up his omni-tool and sending the information straight to Devin's as he gives the man the turian equivalent of a smile.

"I knew that there was a reason why I liked you; Tulma deserved better in life and instead she got the best thing that she could've ever hoped for. You saved her life and are currently taking her to reconcile with her mother, which is a feat in of itself, considering that the last time she spoke with her was roughly four years ago. Thank you for everything that you've done, not only for her, but for all of us. Malerna will definitely be happy to see her daughter again. Oh and before you leave," he tells him, standing up and walking over to a wall cabinet before opening it and pulling out the unmistakable shape of an omni-tool and presented it to him, to which Devin takes it, "that omni-tool has all credentials of the Turian Councilor, which is me at this point in time, and should you come into trouble with any security system while you're visiting Malerna, or even any Hierarchy security system for that matter, this omni-tool will clear up any problems that you may run into, you'll just have to transfer all of your data over to it to get it linked to you and your information. Fitting for you to have, considering you're now Tulma's official bodyguard. However, we'll have to get your armor the proper tags as well, but that can wait until later on. Oh by the way, the upgrades you've gotten for it since then definitely looks better than before; definitely more intimidating than last time."

Devin was silent and stunned at the gift that he was given, but laughed it off as he stood up and shook the hand that was offered to him before equipping the new omni-tool and slipping his helmet back on his head.

"Take care Sparatus; try not to be an asshole to the next sorry fucker who has to deal with you."

"I'll try not to but no promises, Devin." Sparatus chuckled, sitting back down at his desk before turning his terminal back on, getting ready to get back to work.

With a laugh, Devin leaves the office and ignores the looks that the two door guards were giving him as he came out of the room laughing instead of fuming (which was probably a common sight for anyone who guards the Councilor's office), making his way back to the transit station and calling a shuttle to head back to the Normandy.

With Malerna's location known to him, Devin hopes that Shepard isn't too busy to take him and Tulma to where she is, but if he is then he's sure that Shepard wouldn't mind them taking a shuttle instead.

Though, considering Shepard's helpful demeanor and caring personality, he's sure it wouldn't come to that.

* * *

"So, you want me to tell Joker and EDI to make a heading towards Turian controlled space, to a planet named Trinitus, and a hospital for Tulma to meet her mother? Sure, I don't see an issue with that all; I know I wanted to speak with my mother after I came back from the dead, so I understand why she should do the same. It should take us like six hours minimum and a day at most to get there, so go ahead and relax until then. Oh wait, on second thought, Chakwas told me that she wanted to see you when you got back, probably for a checkup on your recovery. So after the checkup, go ahead and enjoy yourself." Shepard informed the man, watching as he stood at the galaxy map and began looking for the location of the planet that Devin had wanted him to take him and Tulma.

"Thanks Shepard, I really do appreciate this." Devin called out to the man, turning around and walking to the elevator as Shepard quipped back at him.

"Yeah, yeah just don't kiss me; save that for Tulma."

Laughing at the joke, Devin turned back to the elevator and made his way to the infirmary, wanting to see how well he's recovered in the past month since he's been conscious after the surgery.

"So what's the verdict, doc?"

Chakwas turned from her terminal and looked back at the man who was currently sitting on the bed and putting his shirt back on as he waited patiently for the results of his checkup to come through.

"Well Devin, it appears that your surgical scars have healed quite nicely and that the parasite that you had is not showing up on any spectrum known to mankind. I believe that it's safe to say that you have completely healed in the past few weeks since you've been up and about the ship. I'm completely confident in my decision and opinion that you should refrain from going into any combat operation for the next three to five days at most. Afterwards, I'll do one more checkup on you and then I'll give you a clean bill of health and inform Shepard that you're combat capable once again." She told the man, smiling as she sees him give a sigh of relief, watching the man stand up and grab his armor and place it on a small cart.

"That's fantastic, doc; I'm going to borrow this cart here and take it down to my bunk in the hangar bay then to drop off my armor then I'll bring it back up and return it to you. I won't need it for a bit, so there's no reason for me to be inside of it all day while I'm going to be relaxing for a bit longer with Tulma."

Chakwas simply smiled at the man as she turned back to her terminal, hearing the door open and close behind him as he exited the room.

* * *

"_Devin and Tulma, please report to the hangar bay to speak with the Commander in fifteen minutes._" EDI told the two, gaining a confused look from Tulma but Devin stood up, walking towards the elevator with Tulma in tow as she was confused as to why Shepard wanted to speak with them in the hangar bay.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing at all, don't worry. I spoke with Shepard some time ago and told him to take us to the coordinates that I gave him, just give me some time to get my armor on as he talks to us."

With the doors opening, the two sees Shepard speaking with Scruffy, the janitor/shuttle pilot who loves eating junk food and reading adult fun time magazines, about where he needed to go for his two occupants.

"Be sure to land at these coordinates and- oh there you two are. Go ahead and get the shuttle ready Scruffy, I'll debrief these two."

Receiving a grunt from the man, Shepard turns around and faces the two before clasping his hands together.

"Well Devin, I hope that the both of you had plenty of time to relax because your shuttle is ready." He informs them, receiving a nod from the man as Tulma looks between the two of them.

"Yep, we were just relaxing in bed when EDI gave us the call; give me a couple of minutes and we'll be ready to head on out."

"Wait, where are we going?"

"I'll tell you on the shuttle, okay? Thank you for doing this Shepard, I appreciate it."

"It's not a problem at all man, you two enjoy yourselves, and the avenger you wanted to borrow can be found inside the shuttle as well."

With the man leaving and Devin finally getting the last couple pieces of his armor ready, the two of them enters the shuttle, with Devin looking out of the window as Tulma groans in frustration.

"Where are we going Devin?"

"I did promise I'd tell you when we got on the shuttle… Trinitus. Tulma, we're meeting your mother on Trinitus."

At the revelation of where they were headed and what they were going to do, Tulma seemed to lock up as she fell back into her seat, with Devin reaching out and softly holding her shoulder with his right hand.

"I know I went behind your back and did this, but I called in a favor that your uncle owed me and asked for your mom's location. Tulma, you need to speak with her, Garrus and I have noticed that you've been distant recently and decided that you need to speak with her and make up for lost time. She doesn't blame you for what happened at all, I know this because your uncle told me about it. She really does want to see you again, as it has been years since you've last done so. She may have lost the ability to walk and her husband years later, but she most definitely doesn't want to lose you as well, and with this mission being as dangerous as it is, then there's always that chance that we won't ever get another opportunity to speak with her ever again."

"I can't Devin, I can't bear to bring myself to see her in that state again. I… every time I do, all I'm reminded is that _I'm _the one who did that to her! I… don't deserve her forgiveness, and I especially don't deserve to see her again." She explained, droning out at the end as she looked out the window and seen the rapidly approaching planet below them.

All Devin did in return was hold her tighter, telling her that he believes that she'll be better after this, and that no matter what happened, he'll be there for her every step of the way.

"Besides, don't I need her approval before I'm accepted into the Sparatus family clan?" He jokingly asked, getting a huff of amusement from her as she looked up at him with worry in her eyes.

"I don't think I can do this alone."

"You're not going to do it alone, I promise."

All that Tulma could do was swallow her pride and smile at the man she loved, for she knew that he was telling her the truth and not what she wanted to hear.

With the shuttle landing, the two of them steps out and looks around the landing zone, seeing numerous ambulances and medical personnel milling about, some of whom noticed their arrival as soon as they landed.

Devin decided that if he was going to be considered her bodyguard, then he best get to acting like one sooner than later, making sure that the avenger rifle that he borrowed from Shepard was collapsed on his back and his boltok was secured in its holster on his hip, waiting patiently as both medical staff and security came to meet the two of them.

"Excuse me, but who are you two and why did your shuttle land in the restricted zone?" Came the question of the security guard that met them first, with Tulma getting ready to answer but was beaten by Devin as he activates his omni-tool.

"Sorry for the sudden arrival; I'm here acting as bodyguard for Tulma Sparatus, niece of the Turian Councilor. Here are our credentials to verify our identities." He tells the man, sending the information to the guard's omni-tool, in which the turian quickly files through it, looking for anything that may have suggested that they were lying.

Upon finding that the credentials were not lying and were in fact the real deal, the guard closes his omni-tool, apologizing to the two as he waves off the other guards.

"Sorry for the inconvenience, just wasn't expecting someone of her caliber to just show up unannounced is all." He tells them, scratching the back of his neck as Devin shrugs in response, telling him that he was only doing what he was supposed to do in the first place and that there were no hard feelings.

"So what are you two doing here then?"

"We're here to visit Malerna Sparatus, her mother. We need to know which floor she is on and which room she's in, so that she can see her. That won't be a problem, will it?"

"None whatsoever, sir; let me call it in and see if I can tell you where she's at."

The guard activates his omni-tool once more and begins speaking with someone on the other end, asking the questions that Devin and Tulma wanted to know before shutting it off and turning to the two of them.

"Malerna Sparatus is on the third floor of the East Wing, Room 314. However, she isn't in there right now and is instead at the small park on the south side of the facility. She spends her afternoons there to enjoy her day, from what I was just told. I'll call a shuttle for you two to take you there; just wait a few minutes until then. You two have a good day."

With that being said, the guard leaves them alone for the time being, walking back to where he came from as Tulma and Devin looked at each other before taking a seat nearby, waiting for the next few minutes until a shuttle arrived to take them to Tulma's mother.

* * *

"Sure is pretty up here." Devin said aloud, looking out the window to the small park below them where alien trees were in full bloom, their leaves shining yellow and red and a few ponds nearby reflecting light as Tulma looked out the window with him, nodding her head in agreement to the man's comment.

"That it is and… it looks like we're landing now, so this might be where she's at." She said, more to herself than she did to Devin.

With the shuttle coming to a stop, Devin opened his door and stepped out, crossing the vehicle and opening Tulma's door for her as he thanked the shuttle pilot who merely nodded in return, telling the two of them that he'll take them back to their shuttle once they're done visiting.

"Well, no time like the present eh? Let's go find your mother Tulma, because I'd like to meet the woman myself after all."

"Yeah, if I were her, I'd definitely want to sit and lounge back in a shaded area with a nice view…" She trailed off, looking around the small park to see if there were any locations that matched the description, only to stop as she sees exactly what she was talking about roughly a hundred meters away, right next to one of the ponds.

Silently, the two of them walked together side by side, with Devin looking around at the beautiful scenery that he found himself in and Tulma simply staring ahead at their target. Upon closer inspection by Devin, he sees that she isn't staring at the location, she's staring at the person sitting down next to a table at the location, seemingly content with watching time pass by them.

When they arrived at the base of the hill that they found themselves at, with the two of them seeing a woman sitting down in an electric wheelchair, simply enjoying her time, no doubt within either of their minds that this woman was Tulma's mother.

Devin began walking forward until Tulma grabbed his hand and stopped him, causing him to look back at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Not getting cold feet now, are we?" He asked, watching as she opened her mouth to say something but only to stop as nothing came out.

Sighing at this, Devin put his hands on her shoulders and made her look up at him, telling her that no matter what happens or what she does here and now, he'll be right beside her the entire time, and if she truly wants to leave and return to the Normandy, then he would still be right beside her.

Closing her eyes, Tulma nodded her head at him, with Devin letting go of her as she stepped forward, heading to the woman who was no doubt her mother.

Stepping forwards alongside her, Devin cleared his throat as he began talking.

"Miss Sparatus? You have a visitor."

Upon the woman hearing her name, she turns around with an eyeridge raised, only to stop dead in her tracks as she sees a heavily armored and tall human alongside a turian who was unmistakably her daughter.

Tears began to form in her eyes as she turns the wheelchair around, facing Tulma who was wearing the same expression on her face.

"Tulma…" Is that she had to say for the dam to burst for the both of them, with Tulma running to her mother and enveloping her in an embrace as the two of them silently cried in each other's arms.

Devin couldn't help but smile at the sight, simply being happy to stay on the sidelines as the two of them stopped their reunion.

"I'm so sorry mom, I wanted to visit, but I just… I just couldn't bring myself-"

"I forgive you Tulma, there's no need to get so worked up about it; I've always forgiven you, and I'll continue to tell you this no matter how much you don't want to believe it. I'm just happy and thankful that you're here now." She tells her, smiling up at her as she looks behind her at the human who was standing to the side at parade rest.

"Why don't you introduce me to your friend here?"

Laughing a bit as she wiped the tears out of her eyes, Tulma waved Devin over, to which the man obliged wholeheartedly and stopped as Tulma gestured to him.

"Mom, this human is a close friend of mine; his name's Devin Carmine and he saved my life more than once in the several months that I've known him."

Nodding her head at the information, she motions for Devin to take a seat right beside her, smiling as the man did exactly as told, before looking back at Tulma.

"So, how'd you two meet and how did you become my daughter's bodyguard, Devin? And how did you save her life? I'm curious to hear any tale that you'll humor me with." She asks the man, crossing her arms in her lap as she waited patiently for Devin to start.

"Well ma'am," Devin started rubbing the back of his helmet as he was suddenly put into the spotlight, "we met about a year ago back on Omega, the pirate station. I was new there and knew that I was being followed by someone, so I intentionally led them to a back alleyway where I could confront them. That someone just so happened to be your daughter. We've practically been friends since then, when she took me back to her and several other of her friends were staying at. About two months later, we and the rest of our friends were under attack by the merc groups that were stationed there and during that time, she had been stabbed in the gut. I stole a shuttle and loaded them onto it, but when it failed on me, I carried her and the other survivor of the attack to a clinic that was a long way away. I didn't stop once during that time. As you can see here," he motions towards Tulma, "she's right as rain now."

Smiling thankfully at the man, Malerna cocks her head to the side and looks at Tulma with a small smirk on her face.

"What's wrong mom?" Tulma asked as she notices the look on her mother's face.

"Oh nothing, what else aren't you telling me?" She asked her, the look on her face never changing as Tulma nods in understanding after a moment of thought.

"Huh? Oh you mean the whole staying on Omega thing; well, we were a part of a vigilante-"

"How long have you two been couples, Tulma?"

Tulma immediately begins sputtering as she was interrupted from her response, Devin laughing aloud at the straightforward question as Malerna softly laughed to herself as she watches the display before her.

"About a month now ma'am; I love her with all my heart and would do anything for her, if it meant that she benefits from it. I was the one who had to figure out where you were just so she could come and see you." Devin explained to the woman, with Malerna smiling at the thoughtfulness that he put into the meeting.

"He's determined, which is always a plus in my book… please take your helmet off, Devin; I want to see the face of the man that my daughter loves."

Without any complaint or protest, Devin reaches up and breaks the seal of his helmet, twisting it off as he sets it down on the table beside him, showing the woman his scarred face.

Reaching up with a talon, Malerna traces the most noticeable and largest scar on his cheek that ran down to under his chin, gently following the jagged path that was left behind as she looked into his eyes.

She sees that no matter the horrors and evil they've no doubt experienced, all the wickedness that the galaxy had to offer, they were still full of kindness and life but still held a modicum of pain and sorrow within them.

Cupping the side of his face, Malerna looks softly at him, an almost sad expression adorning her face as she opens her mouth.

"The eyes are the window into your soul, that's what I've heard humans say from time to time, and it still rings true for all species. I see that you've experienced a lot of pain and suffering Devin, but no matter what you always had hope. You have very kind eyes Devin, please don't lose that kindness." She tells him, watching his eyes go wide in surprise before closing momentarily.

"I've seen so much evil in my life: men treating each other like waste, as if they were lesser beings, while literal monsters hunted us as if we were animals bred to be slaughtered. It hurt me seeing that, but I always had family to think about, to help remind me that I need to go on for their sake as well as mine."

"Devin," Malerna said to him, drawing his head close to hers as she rested her head crest against his forehead with her eyes closed before pulling away from him, "you've been good to my daughter, I can see that there's been no ill will towards her and that there were no lies that you spoke of. If you wish, I would be happy to allow you to join the Sparatus family clan and be officially seen by the clan as a whole that you two are together forever. Do you accept?" She asked him, her deep blue eyes staring directly into Devin's eyes, waiting for a response from the man and a sign of what he has to say to her.

Smiling softly at the question, Devin could only nod his head as Malerna pulled a set of blue face paint from the bag that was on her side and began painting the Palaven markings on his face, while Tulma did the same to his helmet without his knowledge, as Devin closed his eyes and waited for her to finish what she's doing.

Upon feeling that she had finished painting his face, Devin opened his eyes and seen the smiles that were greeting him, pulling up the camera on his omni-tool to take a look at what had been done to his face only to stop and smile at the sight of a near-perfect painting of the Palaven markings that adorned his face, before stopping and looking at what had happened to his helmet.

"Really Tulma?" Is all that he had said to her, receiving a chorus of laughter from both women causing Devin to roll his eyes as he laughs with them.

"Welcome to the family, Devin Carmine; or should I say Sparatus?"

"Ma'am, my mom would kill me if I left our family name behind, so why not let it be Devin Carmine-Sparatus?"

"Sounds just fine to me. Now, why don't we enjoy the rest of our time together and watch the day pass by us, as the fish in the water and the animals in the trees live their lives'?"

"I have absolutely no qualms with doing that whatsoever, ma'am; do you, Tulma?"

"I'd love to spend time with you both. Besides, I think I saw a few Palaven Blue in the pond there splashing around." She tells them, sitting down beside Devin as she rested her head on his arm as he and Malerna watched the day pass by them.

Hours have passed since Devin was officially accepted into Tulma's family, with the three of them enjoying their time together as the alien sun began to set, with the three of them talking about various subjects of turian culture, Tulma's childhood, Malerna's time being at the hospital, and even a bit about Devin's childhood which he was all too happy to talk about.

He also showed both her and Tulma the video that Glaz recorded when she was high on painkillers: with her cooing and chirping like a hormonal teen while rubbing the man's head with both of her hands, commenting about how the short hair feels fuzzy to the touch and that it'd be the perfect thing for her to wear, all the while Devin was rolling his eyes in amusement and Glaz laughing at his friend's expense.

Tulma could only groan in embarrassment at the video's conclusion, glaring at the man she loved with daggers in her eyes.

"I thought that was a dream..."

"Well... you thought wrong."

"I'm gonna kill him."

"He likely knows by now and has planned accordingly."

"Well Tulma, I thought it was sweet and besides, it _does_ feel nice to the touch." Malerna retorted, giving Devin's head another rub while laughing at the groan that Tulma responded with.

* * *

"I didn't want to ask this when we first met, Devin, for fear of what may have happened but what is the real reason behind this visit?" Malerna asked, watching as Tulma sat by the water as Devin sighed.

"Ma'am, I'm with a team of specialists who are planning on taking down the collectors, a hostile insectoid race who is responsible for the disappearances of several human colonies. This is considered a suicide mission by everyone involved, so there's a chance that this will be the last time we ever see each other." Devin explained, looking over at the woman as she shook her head in response.

"I believe that the spirits are with you all, watching over you and all of your friends, guiding you all to safety and success. I believe that we'll definitely see each other again. I know so. One more thing before you leave?"

"Of course ma'am, anything for you."

"Just don't tear her in half when you two do decide to do the deed." She told him, laughing at the look on the man's face as he groaned in response, shaking his head in amusement as he stood up and hugged the woman, who returned the favor.

"Tulma, it's time for us to go." Devin called out to the woman, gaining her attention as she stood up and made her way back to where Devin and her mother were, hugging the woman as they began saying their goodbyes.

"Be safe you two, and come back to visit me anytime you want. I'll be here waiting for you two whenever you do come back, I promise." She told them, receiving agreements from both guests as they bid her farewell.

"I love you mom; we'll definitely come back soon and spend the rest of the week with you, I promise." Tulma told her, seeing her mother laugh softly as she looked at the two of them.

"I'll hold you to it, sweety, and I love you and you as well Devin; you're family now and I'll be sure to see you as my future son-in-law."

Devin only nodded at the comment, smiling happily at the woman as he put his helmet back on, giving her one last hug before headed back to the shuttle.

Upon arriving back at the shuttle did the two of them look at each other, holding hands and giving them a slight squeeze as the shuttle took off back to where Scruffy's shuttle was, before heading back to the Normandy.

* * *

"Hey Garrus, where you at man?" Devin called out, looking on both sides of the newly installed Thanix Cannon for the calibration addicted turian.

"Down here below the gun. What's up?" He heard a slightly muffled voice coming from beneath the cannon, seeing a pair of feet out from underneath the gun.

"The calibrations can wait, you damn junky now get your ass out from beneath there and talk to me; I wanna make fun of you."

"Yeah, yeah whatever you say you lumbering giant." Garrus quips back, sliding out from beneath the gun and stands up to meet the man.

Only to stop as he sees the Palaven facial markings on Devin's face.

"What in the spirits…"

"I've officially been accepted into the Sparatus family clan, so suck it. Oh and one more thing: I watched turian porn for the first time since being here."

"And…"

"I had no idea that you all have retractable genitalia. Disgusting…" Devin trailed off, shaking his head at the utterly confused turian.

"Yeah, it helps when your species evolved on a rock that gets more than the average solar radiation daily than most other habitable worlds, it wouldn't do any good to us to have our bits out in the open. Unlike you humans leaving your bits out in the open, having retractable genitalia actually helps protect it from outside harm."

Devin stopped for a moment, seemingly thinking about the information before shaking his head.

"Nah, that shit is messed up. Anyways, just came by to make fun of your retractable dick having ass and to tell you that I've officially been accepted into the Sparatus clan. So… wanna go get some drinks?"

Looking back at the new cannon, his tools, and back to Devin, Garrus shrugged as he followed Devin to the mess hall, telling the man that calibrations can wait while celebrations are in order.

"Just one more thing before we go: are you planning on repainting the markings every few days or no?" Garrus asked, watching as Devin shook his head at the question.

"Nah, I'd go fuckin crazy over trying to get it right. I'll just have it tattooed on both of my shoulders and maybe get one on my back to show off to other turians. Besides, I never like painting to begin with, unless it was someone's blood on the wall behind them."

"Fair enough, besides, how was the visit?"

"Well... Malerna definitely reminds me of my mom, that's for sure. In the good way, that is."

* * *

"So how has your day been, girl?" Tulma heard the familiar voice of Kasumi beside her, turning to look at the sneaky thief who was currently lying on her bed as she stared silently at her.

"My mom… my mom accepted Devin into the Sparatus clan, Kasumi… he's officially one of us now." She told her, watching as the woman's go wide at the revelation, a smile instantly forming on her face as she stood up and began bouncing in excitement.

"Oh my god! That has to be the best thing I've heard coming from you since I've been here! That's amazing and I'm so happy you and the big guy! So, how does the whole process go from start to finish?"

"Well, my mother touched and held her head crest to his forehead and pulled away, which shows that she's already accepted him into our family. Before that, she had to gauge his character by hearing and seeing how he holds himself and what he thinks about himself and me. If she isn't satisfied, she would've told us that she doesn't think it in her best interest for us to be together, but if we were to still be couples, then it wouldn't be recognized throughout our clan as being legitimate. But… she seen no reason to deny us and gave us her blessing and word that Devin is now my partner." Tulma explained, her voice soft as she recounts the details to Kasumi who was giving her, her complete and undivided attention.

"That's so fascinating; I would've never thought that would be the case for an outsider, hell an alien even, to be considered family."

"Well, when your species has been dealing with non turians for almost two thousand years, your people kinda adopts new rules and customs. Besides, it's not common knowledge to those who aren't couples with a turian."

Kasumi shrugged at the response, telling her that if she had her mind set to it, she'd have found out eventually.

"I'm so happy for you, Tulma; I know that Devin is the perfect man for you and that he'd never hurt you in any way, shape, or form. Now, let's celebrate this momentous day with a few drinks; what do you say?"

"I'd love to." Tulma responded, getting up from her chair and following the woman outside the room, a smile on her face as the day's event passes through her mind.

* * *

**That wraps up this chapter! I hope you all enjoyed it and will look forward to the next installment soon.**

**I was really excited to get this chapter typed out and posted at the end of August, but old laptop here is going bad, so I'm sorry that you all had to wait for that, but better late than never, am I right?**

**Next two chapters are going to be happening simultaneously, kinda like the Horizon missions, except that they'll be taking place on Tuchanka... Spoilers!**

**Anyways, all jokes aside, I hope you all have a great week and are staying safe. I'll see you all next time!**


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